The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin is pushing back on Michelle Obama’s recent claim that America isn’t yet ready for a female President – as Joy Behar also chimed in with a strong opinion.
Last week, the former First Lady, 61, made headlines after she said that the country was not ready to elect a female president during a live sit-down on November 5 to discuss her new book, titled The Look, with actress Tracee Ellis Ross.
She was referring to Donald Trump defeating former Vice President Kamala Harris last November in quite resounding fashion.
Obama explained that she doesn’t believe that people would be able to overcome the so-called bias if she were to run for a future Presidential election herself.
‘That’s why I’m like, “Don’t even look at me about running, because cause you all are lying,”‘ she said. ‘You’re not ready for a woman. You are not. So don’t waste my time.’
As she addressed the audience at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Obama also said that there was a ‘lot of growing up to do’ in this country.
‘We got a lot of growing up to do, and there are still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman, and we saw it,’ she said.
But Griffin didn’t share the same sentiment, which she spoke about during the Hot Topics segment of their November 17 episode.
The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin is pushing back on Michelle Obama’s recent claim that America isn’t yet ready for a female President
But Griffin didn’t share the same sentiment, which she spoke about during the Hot Topics segment of their November 17 episode
As she addressed the audience at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Obama also said that there was a ‘lot of growing up to do’ in this country, as she’s pictured here with her husband, President Barack Obama in 2009
The conversation kicked off as her co-host, Behar, said that she agreed with Obama, pointing out that there were many women leaders around the world, like Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
‘I respectfully disagree with the First Lady,’ Griffin said in response. ‘I don’t think that we’re not ready.
‘I think that when we look at the two candidates who were Democratic nominees, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, there’s always sexism that plays in, [but] they were flawed candidates,’ Griffin explained.
Behar began to interrupt her as she said that the men running have also been ‘flawed’ – but Griffin continued to defend her point.
‘With Hillary Clinton, highly-qualified, but it was an anti-dynasty time, they wanted an outsider,’ Griffin furthered.
‘She had decades of dirt on her that people felt from the Clinton era. Jeb Bush flamed out that cycle, people did not want it,’ she said.
The political strategist also said that Kamala Harris was ‘not a great communicator.’
‘She was not the best female candidate we’re ever gonna see run for President,’ Griffin said.
‘With Hillary Clinton, highly-qualified, but it was an anti-dynasty time, they wanted an outsider,’ Griffin furthered
‘I respectfully disagree with the First Lady,’ Griffin said in response. ‘I don’t think that we’re not ready
The political strategist also said that Kamala Harris was ‘not a great communicator’
In the past, Michelle Obama has been a guest on The View, as is pictured here with the late Barbara Walters (left), Joy Behar (right) and Sherri Shepherd (far right)
Behar chimed in, asking who the perfect one would be now – to which Griffin said that we haven’t had one yet.
However, something that all of the women agreed on was that if Obama started a campaign, she could win the Presidency today.
Though, in the past, Obama has spoken about the fact that she has no interest in becoming a politician.
‘Nothing has changed in me. I want to serve. … There are so many ways to make an impact. Politics is not my thing. It’s as simple as that,’ she told Savannah Guthrie during an October 2018 appearance on The TODAY Show.
Less than a year before her husband Barack left office, in March 2016, she said during South by Southwest that she ‘will not run for president’ because of her then teenage daughters, who are now in their twenties.
President Barack Obama himself said in an October 2016 radio interview that his wife ‘will never run for office’.
‘She is as talented and brilliant a person as there is, and I could not be prouder of her, but Michelle does not have the patience or the inclination to actually be a candidate herself,’ he said.
‘That’s one thing y’all can take to the bank.’
