We aren't ready.

I worked for a federal agency for 44 years while experiencing the good old boy system and systemic sexism towards women and promotions (my own experience included), I think Michelle Obama is spot on. Many voters just can't accept that a woman could run the country as better or even better than a man and so it goes with federal agencies and businesses. It's sad. The only way to change this is for all women to stand up for their sisters.

she is absolutely correct, and as shown in the 2024 election, especially a black woman.....

If you want to have the most promise to win, sadly, you need to run a white male......

It's screwed up beyond belief, but she is just standing up to tell the truth of this matter.

It probably won't matter in future elections anyway, considering how they are screwing with the elections. By 2026, and most definitely, at this rate certainly by the 2028 elections, our elections will be like Russia's or any other dictator country.......

That’s how this is solved

Make men pay for what? How? All men? Just some?

"Make men pay" sounds like a winning slogan for a successful Presidential run.

I voted for Hiilary, i voted for Kamala, and I'd vote for a woman again in 2028, but that doesn't mean running a woman candidate on the Dem ticket would be a winning strategy. I doubt there's anyone who wants to see a woman potus more than I do, but Michelle is dead right: this dumb country just isn't ready to vote a woman in. I hate that like hell, but it is what it is. It sucks, but trying to pretend it's not true isn't going to get us anywhere.

We’re supposed to be the standard of the world and we can’t even get healthcare, child care, education, etc fine tuned. A woman would change that and not just any woman, mind you!

That's mostly gaslighting -- that "American exceptionalism" bullshit is mostly propaganda pushed by the rich and powerful to make Americans feel like they are getting a good deal when a tiny number of plutocrats controls the majority of the nation's wealth.

Since the beginning, America has been dominated by oligarchs. There was plenty of corruption in that, but nothing like what Trump has brought us.

The US has done some great things -- inventing the transistor, mobilizing industry to defeat the Hitler regime, and some other things. But most people pushing that Exceptionism bullshit get away with that only because Americans travel so little. If we exclude the easy vacation spots (Cancun, Bahamas, Virgin Islands. etc.) the great majority of Americans have never traveled internationally. And that means they have never experienced widely available and reliable public transit, universal health care, worker's rights, liberal vacation policies, and a level of happiness far greater than in the US.

Contrast America of the 70s and 80s when we led the way solving acid rain and the ozone hole, and now we are the worst in the world at addressing climate change.

and other Dems that basically said I was chauvinistic for pointing out the obvious. Harris was a WONDERFUL candidate and they chose that orange POS over her. Fucking idiots.

He lost to the man who ran against him.

I wish people in this country were a little more mature...dang...

Black men got the vote in 1870. Women did not get the vote until 1920. What a country.

Every major western democracy has had at least one female head of state.

Like so many other problems, you can trace this directly to Christianity. Not Christianity, per se, because Jesus empowered women. But a very large faction of people in the cult side of American Christianity are strongly racist (white Jesus and all) and ultra misogynist. And not coincidentally, these people seem to be OK with their pastors, preachers, and priests screwing young girls and molesting young boys.

I hope I am not talking about a majority of Americans, but it is easily 40 million that fit that profile. In a country with elections coming down to a difference of under 100,000 votes, we just can't afford to give away so many votes on the basis of gender. It is disgusting and shameful, but Mrs. Obama is right.

I hope to live long enough to see our first female President, but not until after we have beaten the MAGA cancer.

This is a critical turning point in our Democracy and we need to win big now for a while into the future. We cannot just win one cycle and then give it back to them. We need to win for a long time to cement our democratic values and not let them get their filthy hands on it. When that time comes we will be ready . But this is not the time.

woman will ever be president.

Having said that, I would happily vote for a progressive female candidate.

Russia has never had a female head of state.
Turkey has never had a female head of state.
China had one female head of state, but that was 1500 years ago.
Saudi Arabia has never had a female head of state.
Iran has never had a female head of state.
Iraq has never had a female head of state.
Libya has never had a female head of state.

Now that Japan has a female PM, I believe that leaves only four G20 countries to never have had a female leader: US, Russia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia (5 if you count China). South Africa has never elected a woman leader, but had one serve in a temporary capacity twice. So much for American Exceptionalism. On this metric, we shouldn't be proud of being in this group.

but a man won't vote for a woman.

That Democrats, especially here on DU, would say that the only people fit to run this country is old white men, is disappointing.

In my most humble opinion that's totally different than claiming a woman isn't fit to run the country.

There are enough swing voters who can't get their heads out of their ass (and of course nearly all of the GQP) that we're stuck automatically eliminating half of our qualified candidates.

We are saying that a good chunk of our populace would not vote for a woman president. And therefore she would not win.

And I will say it: If a female candidate has a poor chance of winning, stick to a male candidate until we have our nation out of the clutches of crazy fanatics! Our best bet would be a white, heterosexual man, at least at the top of the ticket.

We have to win and we need to choose a winning candidate.

Reading the tea leaves from the last 3 elections, I'll agree with you that our next nominee must be male. I voted for Hillary and Kamala and I truly believe that both of them, each of them, were better choices than the orange idiot we're stuck with now. We can't lose again, or we're done.

We must face facts and make a smart choice in 2028.

And its definitely not what Michelle said! We are all just recognizing AND deploring that this country is too backward to elect a woman president.

As I said in my previous post, the situation sucks, but that's the reality, whether we like it or not.

It is a damn shame. Who knows if it would’ve gone differently after the majority of people who didn’t vote decided differently. How to motivate those folks is the big question,

I remember Bernie Sanders getting the full treatment in here when he suggested to Warren, in a private conversation that was leaked, the same exact thing.

It was against Trump rather than for a woman to be president. Others may share that sentiment.

I was genuinely excited to have both of them as our party's nominees and hoped to make history.

HRC won the popular vote. What we need is to eliminate the Electoral College. Presidential elections turns on a tiny fraction of the electorate because of it

We need our own version of Project 2025 and eliminating the Electoral College should top the list.

You can see how the turnout had shot up since 2016 -

(from Wikipedia) -

2016

Clinton - 65,853,514
45 - 62,984,828


2020

Biden - 81,283,501
45 - 74,223,975


2024

Harris - 75,017,613
45 - 77,302,580

The country is deeply sexist and misogynistic - no question but what it comes down to is that American voters will vote for a President who has marginalized identities if the country is f'ed up enough. In 2028, I think the Democratic party can run anyone and win.

Two qualified women defeated by an idiot because some men are scared little boys.

It’s more unwilling than unready.

We were ready in 2016, and Hillary Clinton did win the popular vote. The electoral college win for Trump came down to about 80,000 or fewer votes across a few swing states. All that's after decades of Republican efforts to cripple Hillary Clinton's career.

And in 2024, there was just a point and a half difference between Trump's percentage of the vote and that for Kamala Harris.

There's more I could say about the results described above, but in any event, the day is coming when we elect a woman president.

😱 😢 😬😬

A black man "yes" a white woman "no". The USA sucks!!!!!

…and Michele is probably right….if, everything else being equal, Hillary or Kamala were men, they would have got the extra 2-3% to give them the win.

and already HAVE---

but too many others are not. However,
Hillary Clinton DID WIN the popular vote,
and Kamala Harris only lost by about 1.5 percent of the popular vote.....

I do believe it will happen before the end of this century,
with a strong female candidate---
once the Boomers/Jones and X Generations have "aged out"
of the electorate. I think it is quite possible by mid-century,
with the right candidate---

but sadly I cannot support another such female Democratic presidential candidate
for the forseeable future, just because the consequences of losing
have been shown to be---THIS that we are living right now!

(However, if a clear groundswell and likely 'wave' emerges
for any such female Democratic presidential candidate
before I expect it, I certainly won't stand in her way----
and I will ALWAYS support the Democratic presidential nominee!)

Is going to be a conservative Republican. A female Democratic will not have a chance in Dumbfuckistan, or purple States. We have Trump because much of America didn’t like having a black President. It is disgusting, but we need a candidate who is an older white man.

vibes from this, like the first lady is issuing a challenge.

The country preferred to have a unqualified convicted felon and rapist in that office than a female prosecutor. Canada has had female prime Ministers and Mexico has elected its first female president. Japan has a female prime Minister even though she is a right wing lunatic.

On paper, as generations age out and Gen Z replaces the Greatest Generation and Boomers, there would be a natural evolution towards a more modern concept of female leadership.

However, the nature of public discourse is now controlled by Social Media. Every single person in America gets a personalized feed that cares only about engagement regardless of the truth. Cynical power brokers have managed to exploit this wedge into the psyches of voters to unearth their buried prejudices. That is why you find voters who swear they would vote for a woman but just "not that woman". They have been manipulated to believe that Clinton and Harris were unsuitable and they quote internet nonsense to justify the choice.

No candidate will be free of this danger going forward. Sadly, the most boring and traditional candidates will fare better than most simply because they have the fewest inherent "otherness" to attack.

But I have to confess that I am cynical about the future of democracy for any candidate with the current state of social media. I just don't see how we can run a democracy with no common agreement on the nature of truth

NOTE: Because this is DU, I voted for both Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, happily. I will happily vote for a female candidate in 2028, but please read my misgivings.

We Dems ran Hillary Clinton in 2016, one of the most qualified (if not the most qualified) candidates in history. She loses to a sociopathic con man who has the advantage of being a Caucasian male, like all previous Presidents. Yes, Comey doing his stunt did not help at all.

Granted, Kamala Harris only had a short window to run in 2024 (looking at you, Mr. Biden), but she was also very qualified as Vice President to be the President. Again, the Caucasian male sociopathic con man and friend/possible participant with Jeffrey Epstein wins.

Two women Democrats have run. Both have lost.

If we run another female candidate in 2028, I HATE HATE HATE to say this, but I think she will lose to another Caucasian male. We Democrats have no trouble voting for a woman and a sizable number of independents and a few (no clue on percentages) Republicans, but sadly, I think she is correct. Not everyone in this country has a "liberated" attitude about female leadership, like the UK and Mexico and other countries. One day, yes, I think a female presidential WILL win, but not in 2028. We cannot gamble on losing.

Michelle is right. America, supposedly the bastion of democracy is pathetically still racist and misogynist as we proved in the last election cycle. The voters elected a convicted felon, 34 counts, instead of an eminently qualified black woman, because American men won't vote for a woman, and so so many of us won't vote for People of Color.

All strong Dems and strong feminists!

I get that Michelle Obama is defensive because she gets asked if she will run about 1000 times a day.

"Where have you gone, Michelle Obama?
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you
Woo, woo, woo"

Sorry...

&list=RD1esf0efHbjM&start_radio=1

when the rebuke of Kamala Harris was so vitriolic (including the lackluster support right here on DU)?

Black women "got the message" and Michelle Obama is just telling it like it is.

I will never forget her epic take down of Trump in the debate. She should be the frontrunner for 2028. I'm still coconut pilled.

and that did help boost Biden over the finish line in 2020.

A woman president is a bridge too far. Unfortunately, Michelle is right. And the Epstein files revelations, so far, show how too many men in power actually view women and girls. We have a long way to go on the path toward equality for the majority of Americans.

and we can look to Mexico for reasons we haven't elected a female president.

From the Los Angeles Times

That Mexico will have a female leader before the United States and the majority of the other countries in the world is no accident.

For years, Mexico has required political parties to ensure that female candidates make up at least 50% of all competitors in federal, state and municipal elections.

It has transformed politics: More than half of the members of Congress and nearly a third of governors are women, and women head the Supreme Court and the ministries of the interior, education, economy, public security and foreign relations.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-06-03/mexico-did-not-elect-a-female-president-by-accident

Makes me embarrassed to be a straight white male

Like Nikki Haley, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kim Reynolds, and (heaven forbid) Kristi Noem for example.

You know if any of them makes the GOP ticket for president, the dialogue will be far different than what happened with Hillary and Kamala.

He got it right.

Somehow, I being so shocked that Trump actually won - that I never found out Hillary won the popular vote!

Unfortunately, with Kamala racism probably kicked which offset the willingness to vote for a woman, plus the fools who with held their votes bc of Gaza!

No apologies for partly blaming that last particular set of voters- Iike effin' drumphf was going to be better for Gaza? It's possible Kamala could have been nudged to a more nuanced policy on Israel, and Gaza.

For now in '28 we probably need a straight, white male. Wresting our endangered democracy back from proto fascists is goal #1 !!! Then we can move foward.

And we need the best white hat hackers to keep an eye on the tabulation machines etc in '26, and '28. 😑

in stating the obvious, and imo she has every right to be 'in-yo-face' BLUNT about it, if not outraged because frankly it's outrageous.

Twice now, womem have lost to a lying, deceitful, hate peddling CON MAN, who's bragged of 'grabbling em by the p---' had run fraudulent charities and 'university' bankrupted casinos, hid away tax forms, and invited a foreign adversary to hack emails.

After which he denied the reality of Covid and obstructed our response, profited from the office, undermined government agencies, stole classified documents, engaged in EXTORTION, was twice impeached, found guilty of sexual assault, and 34 felony charges, and incited an armed attack upon the nation's Capitol in an attempted COUP.

All of that and more, in just his first term.

Fact is, all things being equal, there's NO way either election should've been even CLOSE. Not even for dog catcher.

So, Michelle has only stated the OBVIOUS.

All of which, btw only highlights the hypocrisy, presumptiveness, and PRIVILEGE behind Trump's DEI SABOTAGE - by which an incompetent like Trump, having prevailed against FAR more qualified women,

set about doubling down on the absurdity of white male privilege, by obliterating DEI initiatives, and purging the workforce of what he called DEI hires as a way of suggesting it is THEY, rather, who were unqualified.

Especially seeing as how he has no problem hiring INCOMPETENTS via his own reverse-DEI agenda - including prosecutors with no prosecutorial experience, Fux news personalities, and others equally unqualified as himself.

A travesty and afkn insult is what it is. And frankly I think Hillary, Harris, and Mrs. O have been TOO kind about it.

absolutely correct. We have a lot of growing up to do before that will ever happen. Never will happen in my lifetime.