Whitmer Says America Is Ready for a Woman President, Clashes With Michelle Obama

The divide inside the Democratic Party deepened this week as Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer publicly broke from former First Lady Michelle Obama over the question of whether America is ready to elect a woman president.

In an NPR interview released Tuesday, Whitmer contradicted Obama’s claim that the country still isn’t ready to embrace female leadership at the highest level. “I think America is ready for a woman president,” Whitmer said, adding, “We saw women get elected across the country.”

Her comments were a direct response to Obama’s statement in November, in which the former first lady lamented that voters’ rejection of Kamala Harris in the 2024 election showed “we ain’t ready.” Obama made those remarks at a promotional event for her book The Look, where she also shut down calls for her own run for office, saying, “You’re not ready for a woman. You are not.”

Whitmer, who has long been floated as a 2028 presidential hopeful, tried to soften her disagreement by saying she had “love” for Obama, but clearly drew a line between their perspectives.

“For whatever reason, we have not had a woman president yet. I think we will at some point in the near future,” Whitmer said.

She pointed to the recent victories of Democratic Govs. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, and Sen. Elissa Slotkin in her own state as proof that female candidates can win tough races conveniently ignoring that all three won with heavy out-of-state donor support, favorable media coverage, and in deeply blue or shifting purple areas.

Kamala Harris didn’t lose to Trump in 2024 because of “misogyny.” She lost because voters rejected her record, her radical policies, and her complete lack of authenticity. Period. Gender wasn’t the problem performance was.

Whitmer herself dodged the obvious truth when pressed. “I don't think it was just gender, no,” she said. That’s putting it mildly. Harris was so unpopular by Election Day that even prominent Democrats avoided campaigning with her. According to Gallup, Harris's approval rating sank to 33% by fall 2024 lower than any VP in recent history. It had nothing to do with her gender, and everything to do with her inability to connect, lead, or even explain her own policies.

Whitmer may try to paint a more optimistic picture, but her remarks reveal a deeper split inside the Democratic Party one faction obsessed with identity politics and victim narratives, and another grasping at signs of relevance as Trump and Republicans dominate the national stage.

What’s also conveniently ignored in this debate is that a woman has already served as president de facto. Kamala Harris was functionally running the show during Biden’s final months in office, and the country noticed. That’s one reason voters sent Trump back to the White House with a decisive margin in 2024, flipping key states and exposing the rot of Democrat leadership.

So while Whitmer claims America is ready for a woman president, the real question is: ready for which woman?

Because if the Democrats keep pushing the same failed names and radical policies, the American people male and female will keep voting red.

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