Jim Clyburn backs Michelle Obama's claims that America is 'not ready for a woman' president
Interesting from Clyburn:
— lindsay 🙈🏳️🌈 (@virtueemoir29) December 7, 2025
“We may be in a dark moment as it relates to women serving as president, but we may be in that moment just before dawn when a woman will serve. And in order for that to happen, they have got to run. So I want women to run. I'm going to support them.” 👀 pic.twitter.com/oFD5MjEXH9
WASHINGTON, DC: Democratic representative Jim Clyburn was one of the guests on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday, December 7. During his conversation with Kristen Welker, Clyburn reacted to Michelle Obama’s comments about America not being ready for a female president.
The Democratic leader was in agreement with the former first lady and said that Michelle Obama “is absolutely correct.”
Jim Clyburn says America ‘can’t afford to turn the clock back’
Welker recalled former Vice President Kamala Harris’s comments about the same before playing Obama’s clip from November 2025.
The congressman said that he agreed with both Kamala Harris and Michelle Obama. He added that he did not think that America was ready to elect a female president, adding that if one revisited America’s history, “we demonstrated that we are not ready.”
He added that “incredible women” such as Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris have run for office in the past and believed that “we are getting there.”
“That’s why we can’t afford to turn the clock back,” he added.
Clyburn noted that he hoped more women could run for office and wanted to support such figures despite what the results of such elections might have been in the past.
He added that because America was not ready did not mean “we should stop the pursuit.” Calling the previous results “a dark moment” for women leaders, he said that America might be in the moment “just before dawn when a woman will serve.”
Michelle Obama’s 'not ready for a woman' comment explored
On November 5, Michelle Obama and actor Tracee Ellis Ross discussed her new book, 'The Look', at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. At the time, Ross asked Obama if her serving as the model of “wifedom and femininity” had impacted the women America had made “for a woman to be president.”
The former first lady responded that America had “a lot of growing up to do” and that “sadly,” a lot of men did not think they could be led by a woman.
“That’s why I’m like, don’t even look at me about running, ‘cause you all are lying. You’re not ready for a woman,” she said.
Her comments were made in regard to former Vice President Kamala Harris’s defeat during the 2024 presidential elections.
