During an interview with CNN‘s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi weighed in on Michelle Obama’s claim that America was “not ready” to have a female as president of the country.
Per Fox News, Pelosi, 85, touched on the topic when Cooper asked if she shared the same sentiments as the former first lady. She responded that a female serving as president of the United States shouldn’t be ruled out.
“Well, I hope — I mean, I respect her 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 asked. “‘Well, I served in the military.’ Well, OK. And so? So do women serve in the military.”
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Pelosi also stated that she “always thought we would have a woman president long before we had a woman speaker of the House.” The 85-year-old added that she “didn’t set out to be speaker.”
Cooper then asked Pelosi why she felt that a female president would assume office before a female speaker of the House.
“Because I thought the American people were much more ready for a woman president,” Pelosi replied. “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?'”
She added: “Oh, poor babies. I’m not waiting for you to tell me I can run.”
Pelso also suggested that there’s a hierarchy of men in Washington who believe they’re supposed to assume certain government positions, adding that it “still exists really on the Republican side,” Fox News reported.
Despite Obama’s claims, Pelosi said that she has been approached by young women who have told her that they aim to become president of the United States in future.
“Now, people say to me, kids say to me, students, they say, ‘It’s nice you were speaker, but I‘m going to be president,’” she said. “I said, ‘Well, I certainly hope so.’”
Obama, 61, suggested that Americans were “not ready” to elect a female as president when she was addressing a crowd of women at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Friday, November 14, to promote her new book, The Look, Fox News reported.
To justify her claim that Americans are “not ready” for a female occupying the country’s highest seat, Obama made mention of Donald Trump being elected over Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
“As we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain’t ready,” the former first lady said. “That’s why I’m like, ‘Don’t even look at me about running, because you all are lying. You’re not ready for a woman. You are not.’”
Obama also stated that she feels a lot of men in America do not like the idea of being led by a woman. “You know, we’ve got a lot of growing up to do, and there’s still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman, and we saw it,” Obama said.
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