Michelle Obama says America isn’t ready for a woman president
Former First Lady Michelle Obama has made headlines by asserting that the United States is still not prepared to elect a woman as president. Speaking at a Nov. 5 event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with actress Tracee Ellis Ross, she was blunt: “You’re not ready for a woman. You are not.”
Obama grounded her remarks in the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, where she said society showed its reluctance to fully embrace female leadership. “As we saw in the past election, sadly, we ain’t ready,” she said. She used that as a key reason for rejecting any notion of her own candidacy: “Don’t even look at me about running … so don’t waste my time.”
She went further, pointing to a deeper societal issue: “there are still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman, and we saw it.” In her view, this reflects a broader immaturity in the country’s political culture and a structural barrier to women rising to its highest office.
This conversation took place around the promotion of her new book, The Look, which explores her journey with style, identity, and public life.
Her comments have reignited debate about gender and leadership in American politics, especially after repeated calls for her to run many of which she’s consistently declined.
