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Michelle Obama has once again closed the door on a future presidential candidacy, doing so with a firmness that has generated significant political and media attention.
During a conversation with actress Tracee Ellis Ross to promote her new book The Look, the former first lady stated that the United States "is not ready" to elect a woman as head of state and, therefore, does not even consider the possibility of running for the White House.
According to her explanation, the experience of the recent elections—in which Kamala Harris failed in her attempt to become the first president of the country—demonstrated to her that there is a significant rejection of female leadership.
"As we saw in the past election, sadly, we are not ready. Don't even look at me about competing because all of you are lying. You are not ready for a woman. So don't waste my time," she stated before the audience.
Barack Obama's wife insisted that her country still has "much to grow" in terms of political equality and emphasized that a deep-rooted cultural resistance persists in broad sectors.
"Sadly, there are still a lot of men who don’t feel they could be led by a woman, and we saw that," she pointed out.
She added that this setback is particularly evident when women begin to claim spaces of power: "We can see how progress can be made and things can be snatched away when it comes to taking our power as women."
Although Michelle Obama has been one of the most popular and influential figures in the Democratic Party for years—so much so that she led voting intention polls when Joe Biden was considering withdrawing his candidacy in 2024—she once again firmly ruled out any intention to run for office.
She recalled that she has been saying "no" since 2016 and maintained that nothing has changed since then. Both she and Barack Obama ended up supporting Kamala Harris in that election cycle, a decision that bolstered the hopes of a segment of the electorate that believed it was possible to elect the first woman president.
Her public refusal occurs in a context where she has also returned to her role as an author. The Look, the book she is currently promoting, explores the evolution of her personal style and the intersection of fashion, politics, and identity since she came into the public eye.
Michelle commented that she no longer feels the pressure to embody the traditional stereotype of a presidential spouse. She challenged the notion that the role of the First Lady should conform to an "archetype of wife and femininity," an image she considers limiting and disconnected from today's reality.
In her speech, she recalled her stance during the campaign in which Kamala faced then-Republican candidate Donald Trump.
At a rally held in Michigan days before the election, he urged his supporters not to entrust their destiny to someone who had shown deep contempt for women.
In that same event, Michelle emphasized Kamala's capabilities and posed a question that she said the country should ask itself: "In every sense, she has proven to be ready… The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?"
Today, when reflecting publicly on that same issue, her response has been definitive: the United States, according to her, is still unprepared.
And as long as she isn’t, Michelle Obama prefers to stay away from any electoral race and focus on her personal life, on writing, and on what she claims keeps her currently in her best moment since leaving the White House almost a decade ago.
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