Former first lady Michelle Obama said at a recent event that the US isn’t ready for a woman president, pointing to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ unsuccessful bid for the White House last year.
I don’t know about things being worse had Hillary won. I do know that was the worst election I’ve seen in my life in terms of candidate quality. Hillary was the ultimate insider running for self-aggrandizement and Trump was a political outsider running for his brand out of cynical greed and sheer ego. Hillary had already lost to an outsider when she lost the 2008 primary to Obama—that was a sign of things to come.
Hillary would’ve been a far better stateswoman, no doubt. And obviously Trump’s policies were and are detestable. But I understand why Trump won. It shocked me at the time, but it makes sense seeing the past ten years.
Populist candidates are what everyone is looking for. Not the party elite. Look at the backlash against Schumer for treating politics as normal. And the backlash against Israel when we’ve traditionally been a staunch ally regardless of party. And against older politicians in general. We want the old guard out. Republicans listened to the people. Dems didn’t. Still aren’t, based on the reaction to Mamdani winning the primary.
Want to see a woman win the presidency? Run AOC. I don’t know if this is the election for it. Are we “ready” for her? I don’t know. But she’s the kind of woman candidate who could win.
Are we “ready” for her? I don’t know. But she’s the kind of woman candidate who could win.
Not disagreeing with you, but the last few years in America and worldwide have convinced me that, at least in the West, backlash to women leaders is mostly a fantasy. I mean how many fascist leaders or prominent personalities are actually women? You can’t convince me the American left and center-left are more sexist than the literal fascists who elected literal fascist Georgina Meloni, or the literal neo-Nazis supporting literal neo-Nazi Alice Wiedel. People will vote for an Apache helicopter if it promotes their (real or perceived) interests; shockingly little of modern Western elections boils down to gender.
I don’t know about things being worse had Hillary won. I do know that was the worst election I’ve seen in my life in terms of candidate quality. Hillary was the ultimate insider running for self-aggrandizement and Trump was a political outsider running for his brand out of cynical greed and sheer ego. Hillary had already lost to an outsider when she lost the 2008 primary to Obama—that was a sign of things to come.
Hillary would’ve been a far better stateswoman, no doubt. And obviously Trump’s policies were and are detestable. But I understand why Trump won. It shocked me at the time, but it makes sense seeing the past ten years.
Populist candidates are what everyone is looking for. Not the party elite. Look at the backlash against Schumer for treating politics as normal. And the backlash against Israel when we’ve traditionally been a staunch ally regardless of party. And against older politicians in general. We want the old guard out. Republicans listened to the people. Dems didn’t. Still aren’t, based on the reaction to Mamdani winning the primary.
Want to see a woman win the presidency? Run AOC. I don’t know if this is the election for it. Are we “ready” for her? I don’t know. But she’s the kind of woman candidate who could win.
Not disagreeing with you, but the last few years in America and worldwide have convinced me that, at least in the West, backlash to women leaders is mostly a fantasy. I mean how many fascist leaders or prominent personalities are actually women? You can’t convince me the American left and center-left are more sexist than the literal fascists who elected literal fascist Georgina Meloni, or the literal neo-Nazis supporting literal neo-Nazi Alice Wiedel. People will vote for an Apache helicopter if it promotes their (real or perceived) interests; shockingly little of modern Western elections boils down to gender.