Public Officials Respond to Michelle Obama’s Assertion that the U.S. is Not Ready for a Female President

By: Miriam Edelman

At an event in New York City in November 2025, former First Lady Michelle Obama asserted that the U.S. is not ready for a female President. She pointed to the 2024 presidential election when President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris. However, even at the time of Harris’ loss, people refused to attribute the defeat to only Harris’ gender. Jen O’Malley Dillion, Harris’ campaign chair, said:

“I do not think that this race swung solely on her being a woman or a woman of color. But I think that you cannot look at a woman and a woman of color and not think that didn’t have an impact on this race.”

“We are fooling ourselves if we don’t think that there is an element of her being a woman or a woman of color that was harder for people to see as comfortably, perhaps.”

Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) remarked:

“This was a change election. People — if people are expressing that they’re concerned about the direction of the country, they’re not going to vote for the incumbent party.”

“It has much more to do with that than I think the fact that Kamala Harris is a woman.”

Furthermore, Amanda Hunter, the leader of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, said “Voters were more worried about issues like the economy or immigration and less concerned with the vice president’s gender and race.”

After Michelle Obama spoke, some prominent Americans weighed in on whether the U.S. is ready for its first female President. This piece discusses the responses.

Current and Former Major Government Officials

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) disagreed with Michelle Obama, saying “I think the country is more than ready.” In an interview with CNN, Pelosi said:

“Well, I hope — I mean, I respect her [Michelle Obama] and I know that view is one that we all are saddened by, but we — I think we have to change. The fact is that I‘ve heard every excuse in the book, you know, like, 'I‘m not sure a woman could be commander-in-chief.' Well, why not?”

Pelosi thought that the U.S. would have a female President way before it had a female Speaker of the House:

“Because I thought the American people were much more ready for a woman president.”

“Just the thought of it is so exciting and the message it sends to the world. Faster than there would be a woman speaker as this place, I mean, it's shall we say — it's male-dominated for hundreds of years and so when I ran for leadership, they said, 'Who said she could run?'”

Pelosi thought there will be a female President during the upcoming generation, but possibly not while she is still alive. She is optimistic, given the women in electoral offices. Pelosi remarked, “The more women who are in those positions, the more clear it is to the public that one of them could be president.” Pelosi thought that the defeats of female presidential candidates have a silver lining; as she stated, “They pave the way. And it [a female President] will happen.”

During an interview in December 2025, Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC) agreed with the former First Lady:

“Michelle Obama is absolutely correct. If you look at the history, we demonstrated that we are not ready,”

“These are incredible women who have run — Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris. And I think that we are getting there.”

Other Prominent Politically-Oriented Americans

Deborah Walsh, the director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers, was irritated with the question of whether the U.S. is ready for a female President. She said, “What happens is this becomes a story that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.” She added, “[i]f we just keep telling ourselves, ‘Well, I would support her, I think she’s great, but everyone tells me she’s not going to win because we’re not ready,’ then it’s a self-inflicted roadblock.”

Comedian Bill Maher pointed out a flaw in Michelle Obama’s comment. He said:

“it's not a scientific fact that the two women who the Democrats ran lost because they're women, which is exactly what the premise of your comment is. We ran women and they didn't win. Well, first of all, Hillary did win the popular vote.”

Maher also remarked, “To me, this is logical fallacy 101. Just because we weren’t ready or didn’t like the candidates, Hillary [Clinton] and Kamala, doesn’t mean we are not ready for a woman.” Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote, which is not how the U.S. elects Presidents, by almost 2.9 million votes in 2016 actually shows that the U.S. was ready for a female President.

Political strategist and analyst Donna Brazile disagreed with Michelle Obama, citing Democratic Presidential nominees Hillary Clinton’s 65.8 million popular votes in 2016 and Harris’ 75 million votes in 2024. Brazile remarked:

“Maybe we should stop talking about it and just do it.”

“We are ready. Eighty percent of American people say they are ready. So the idea that America isn’t ready is bulls***. They might not be ready for this one or that one.”

Lara Trump, who is a daughter-in-law of President Donald Trump and who was Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee, disagreed with Michelle Obama. Lara Trump thought that the U.S. is ready for a female President. She said:

“as a woman,…I hate the idea that anything is centered around being a woman. What I would love is for a woman to run for president and literally…never talk about the fact that she's a woman because guess what? Who cares?... you either have ideas and policies that matter and that are going to be effective and you prove that you're a good leader and people are going to vote for you.”

Final Thoughts

Do not lose hope for a female U.S. President. Walsh remarked, “People said a Black man couldn’t win. And then he did. It is true until it isn’t.” The same could be true of women. Barack Obama was not the first African-American major party Presidential candidate, but he became the U.S.’s first African-American President. Likewise, just because female major party Presidential candidates have not won does not mean the U.S. will not have a female President.