Younger men threw their support behind Donald Trump in 2024 after favoring Biden in 2020
The United States is still not ready for a female president after more than a century of unsuccessful campaigns for the White House, according to former First Lady Michelle Obama.
“As we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain’t ready,” Obama said earlier this month in a live conversation with actor Tracee Ellis Ross that was published Friday.
“That’s why I’m like, don’t even look at me about running, because you all are lying,” she said. “You’re not ready for a woman. You are not. So don’t waste my time.”
I agree Michelle shouldn’t run. I’d argue, though, that we’re ready for a woman leader, but we need one presented without a bunch of past baggage (Hillary) or a party agenda (Kamala and arguably Hillary, too) and with their own ideas and not what the think tank says will win.
I’d say it’s pretty hard for a woman to both have enough experience to be taken seriously as a candidate and simultaneously have no past baggage or party agenda.
And I don’t think most male candidates are held to that standard, either.
The misogyny is palpable. In the country as a whole.
Species as a whole.
More progressive cultures are getting over this tribalistic, divisive stuff – they will tend to flourish over time.
More conservative cultures will double down on division – they will tend to wither.
Yeah that’s what I thought… In the 1970s.
I’m sorry to say it’s not going as well as I’d hoped.
Not true. Clinton won the popular vote
I want to vote for a woman, but not a Zionist with plans for lots of tax rebates
I didn’t vote for Biden, I didn’t vote for Clinton, I didn’t vote for Harris, and I didn’t vote for Obama (but I did caucus for him because public option)
It’s hilarious. Everyone in this thread literally ignoring the lived experience of women, trying to convince everyone their country isn’t misogynistic.
You can ignore the lived experience of your pizza delivery guy without hating him.
The majority of people voted for Clinton, a woman.
People laugh but I 100% believe AOC would win.
I think they’re laughing nervously because deep down they fear that you’re right. I certainly think you are.
Who’s laughing that’s not a useful idiot?
I’d like to see her win; just not sure it’ll happen.
I didn’t vote for Hillary or Kamala, but I’d vote for AOC.
What we also don’t need is yet another political dynasty.
AOC
Great VP pick
Eh. She already meets the requirements. She’s old enough. That’s it. And she is eminently more qualified than the current president. She’ll be 39 in 2028. The youngest president, Teddy Roosevelt, was 42.
I still think being young AND a woman AND progressive might be courting a bit more voter reluctance than I’d want to gamble with. The progressives will eat it up, but we’re gonna need some moderates to get over the finish line.
I’d prefer she go VP for a Tim Walz type for two terms and then run after that. She’s only going to get better at navigating DC politics, which she’ll need to actually accomplish any of whatever platform she runs.
I feel like pushing AOC in 2028 is premature. I’d definitely vote for her and hope she wins, but the odds don’t seem great and the consequences of losing are more dire than I’m personally comfortable with.
Look what thinking cautiously has got us. Look what thinking audaciously has got them. What rational rational Republican voter would have thought that Trump was a good potential candidate in 2016? Rational opinion was that Trump was a candidate doomed from the start. Yet the Republicans through caution to the wind and went for the inspiring candidate. And look what it got them.
Every election we choose the path of least resistance. Every election we talk ourselves out of the truly inspiring candidate, all in the name of electability. How many Democrats have voted against the progressive primary candidate, the one who could inspire, the one who could rally…all in the name of electability? Hillary was the candidate in 2016 because she was more electable than Bernie. Biden was the candidate in 2020 because he was more electable than Bernie. Biden was nearly the candidate in 2024 because sticking with the incumbent was simply the rational and cautious move.
Maybe it’s time we have faith for once. Maybe it’s time we believe in ourselves and our message for a change. Maybe it’s time to stop talking ourselves out of running our strongest potential candidates. As a great poet said, you have to believe in impossible things, or else they can never come to be.
The difference being that the right wing is populist and authoritarian by nature. You can’t drum up the left with the same methods as the right. Biden was a boring geriatric neo-lib, and he’s the one who won.
I don’t wanna wish on a star when I’m gambling with fascism. Yes I want progressive policies, I want more than progressive policies. I would have no problems with AOC being the president. But it’s not about what I want. It’s not about what you want. It’s about what the 10s of millions of voters who don’t lean far left want.
I don’t have that kind of faith in the average American voter, even the average non-Republican voter. I think progressive policies are a winning platform, I just think AOC specifically is too risky of a run right now. Run Tim Walz, or some other 50-65 year old white progressive, with AOC as VP. That’ll make it easier for her to demonstrate the efficacy of her platform so she can run afterwards.
I like her, if anything she’s a bit moderate for me, but she’s DC young. The stodgy moderates might not show up because they’re afraid she’s inexperienced. If you can find a way to sway millions of voters between now and then, great. I’d love to see it.
But we’re not doing ourselves any favors by appealing to our hearts at the expense of our brains. Maybe the next 3 years will alter the political landscape in a way that makes her a safer candidate. I’m both excited at that prospect, and terrified at what would be necessary to do that. But if not, we have to face the landscape as it is.
A chance at the best candidate isn’t necessarily with the risk of the worst candidate. We cannot afford to be reckless right now.
Any woman who runs will be running with the baggage of feminist politics. This is not the right time for it.
I disagree. I just think what I want is a candidate that has a coherent policy and their campaign to be elected isn’t solely/majority “but I could be the first female president” slop. Hillary and Kamala could have been great presidents, but when the selling point is “I’m a woman” and not much else, that’s not going to resonate with enough people to win an election.
That’s what you want. And if Lemmy elected the president, I seriously believe the country would be a better place. But it doesn’t, so what you or I want doesn’t really matter that much. What matters is what the stodgy moderate majority wants, and a large portion of them are subtly guided by subconscious bias.
And yet the same doesn’t apply to men for some weird reason