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Former first lady Michelle Obama is doubling down on her belief that America is not prepared to elect a woman president, arguing that voters continue to hold female candidates to higher standards than men.
Speaking on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Obama warned Democrats against denying that sexism still plays a role in national elections. She pointed to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Kamala Harris as examples.
“We would just be silly to think that there aren’t just some gut kind of, I don’t know, like, we’re not even analyzing what those feelings are about because we’re trying to pretend like it’s all better,” Obama said in the episode released Wednesday.
“There are men out there that were not [going to] vote for a woman,” she later added.
She said many attitudes toward women remain “deeply embedded” in American culture, raising questions about whether enough voters believe they can follow a woman president.
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Obama has made similar remarks before. During a previous appearance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, she told a crowd of women that the country was “not ready” for a woman to lead.
She addressed criticism of that claim, saying, “Let’s not be mad because I made the statement.”
“Let’s look at the fact that we’ve had two really qualified female candidates,” said Obama, referencing both Clinton and Harris, who lost their bids for the White House.
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Obama argued that female candidates are held to a higher standard by the public and are seen as falling short if they are not “perfect.” She called on her party to stop “pretending” that isn’t the case.
But not all Democratic women agree. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she believes the nation is ready for a woman president. She pushed back against the former first lady’s comments during an interview with NPR released Tuesday.
“I think America is ready for a woman president,” Whitmer said.
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“The question comes down to a choice between two people, and what we saw in this last election, while Kamala Harris didn’t beat President Trump, we saw women get elected across the country.”
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“We saw women win up and down the ballot in hard, important states to win, so I do think there’s an appetite,” she added.
“I just, for whatever reason, we have not had a woman president yet. I think we will at some point in the near future.”