Michelle Obama opened up on “Call Her Daddy” about whether she believes the U.S. is ready for a female president.
The former first lady discussed a wide range of topics during her interview with Alex Cooper on the Jan. 21 episode of the podcast, including the scrutiny she faced while in the public eye and the media’s focus on her appearance during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Obama also expanded on comments she made last November about whether she would ever consider running for president herself and what that says about the country’s readiness for a woman in the Oval Office.
“As we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain’t ready,” Obama 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.”
She previously touched on the subject during a conversation with actor Tracee Ellis Ross for a live taping of her podcast, “IMO,” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Nov. 5, 2025.
Ross asked Obama whether serving as first lady had affected “the room that we’ve made for a woman to be president.”
“You know, we got a lot of growing up to do,” Obama said. “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.”
Speaking with Cooper, Obama elaborated further.
“We’ve come a long way,” she said. “Whether people really feel yet that they can follow a woman as president… we’d be silly to think there aren’t some gut… I don’t know, like we’re not even analyzing what those feelings are about because we’re trying to pretend it’s all better.”
“How could it be all better?” she continued. “We’ve been feeding off this bone for so long, it doesn’t just go away. It takes time. But we’re moving. We are moving in that direction.”
“There are men out there who would not vote for a woman,” she said. “Let’s just be real about it and put that on the table and talk about what that’s about.”
“Let’s not be mad because I made the statement,” Obama added. “Let’s look at the fact that we’ve had two really qualified female candidates.”
“We have qualified women. They’re not perfect, they don’t cross every T and dot every I, there’s a falling-shortness that happens,” she said. “But why can’t we talk about that? Why are we pretending that didn’t just happen?”
Cooper noted that some critics have argued that disliking certain candidates does not necessarily mean the country isn’t ready for a woman president.
“We’re still growing,” Obama responded. “I think it’s going to happen. Are we ready now? I don’t know. Let’s prove us wrong. I would love that.”
Cooper also raised a hypothetical scenario in which President Donald Trump changes the law and runs for a third term, asking whether Barack Obama would ever consider returning to politics.
“I hope not,” Obama said. “I would actively work against that. I would be at home working against it.”
“I do believe in the need for new vision,” she added. “This is a hard job, and it requires new energy, new vision all the time, new ways of looking at the world. So, I do think that eight years is enough.”
“How are we going to build new leaders if the same people keep doing it again and again and again?”
Barack Obama is celebrating Michelle Obama on her 62nd birthday. On Saturday, Jan. 17, the former United States President posted a sweet message to his wife for her special day.
