Michelle Obama says Americans have ‘a lot of growing up to do’ before electing woman president
Michelle Obama said Americans, especially men, are still not ready to elect a woman as president.
He also doesn’t believe he can overcome the alleged bias among voters if he runs for the White House.
‘So I said, ‘Don’t even look at me about running because you’re all lying.’ ‘You’re not ready for a woman. You are not. So don’t waste my time.’
During a live session with actress Tracee Ellis Ross on November 5 to discuss her new book, ‘The Look,’ the former First Lady said, ‘Unfortunately, we are not ready, as we saw in the past elections.’
He was referring to Donald Trump’s highly resounding defeat of former Vice President Kamala Harris last November.
Unlike his victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 (when he lost the popular vote but won the electoral college), Trump received nearly 2.3 million more votes than Harris in the 2024 election.
Michelle, 61, told an audience at the Brooklyn Academy of Music her frustration with what she believes is the prevailing attitude among some in the country.
‘We have a lot of growing up to do and unfortunately there are still a lot of men who don’t think they can be led by a woman and that’s what we’ve seen.’
Michelle Obama said Americans are not ready to elect a female president, implying that sexism is still prevalent among men.
The 61-year-old former First Lady has been asked repeatedly to run for president for more than a decade, but she resisted the calls in March 2016, citing her then-teenage daughters as an excuse.
Michelle had been talked about as a worthy presidential candidate among liberals since 2012, when she was in the middle of her husband’s eight-year term as commander in chief.
Although his fans in the Democratic Party tried to nominate him as the primary season approached, he constantly made it clear that he would not heed the call.
In October 2018, he appeared on the TODAY Show and told host Savannah Guthrie that he never wanted to be a politician.
‘Nothing has changed in me. I want to serve. … There are many ways to make an impact. Politics is not my thing. “It’s that simple,” he said.
In March 2016, less than a year before Obama left office, he said at South by Southwest that he ‘wasn’t going to run for president’ because of his daughters, who were then in their twenties.
Obama said in a radio interview in October 2016 that his wife would ‘never run for office.’
‘She is as talented and intelligent a person as can be and I couldn’t be more proud of her, but Michelle doesn’t have the patience or inclination to run for office herself,’ he said. ‘This is something you can all take to the bank.’
Michelle’s followers hoped she had changed her mind after making numerous speeches attacking Trump while campaigning for Harris last year.
Michelle’s comments come after Donald Trump scored two wins against prominent Democratic women; The first was Hillary Clinton in 2016.
She then defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. And unlike his victory over Clinton in 2016 — when she lost the popular vote but won the electoral college — Trump received nearly 2.3 million more votes than Harris.
It seems that he is as determined in his hatred of politics now as he was a few years ago.
Opinion polling shows that a significant obstacle remains to women gaining the highest office in the country.
Ahead of the 2024 elections, American University released a survey that found four in 10 Americans know someone who would not vote for a woman to be president.
‘There is a notable ‘youth paradox’ in which young voters, while generally supportive of women in office, are actually least open to electing a female president,’ the survey’s authors wrote.
