Michelle Obama still thinks US isn't ready for female president

Michelle Obama appeared on the world's most popular podcast for women, "Call Her Daddy," on Wednesday and addressed her recent remarks about America's readiness for a female president.

The former first lady told Alex Cooper during the Jan. 21 interview that "look, we've come a long way, you know? And what my husband has said, and I agree with (is) change takes time."

"Context matters, right? 50 years ago, we were fighting for the Equal Rights bill," Obama said, adding that "there are people alive today that couldn't marry the opposite race, couldn't love who you love. This is recent history of a country that's been around for hundreds and hundreds of years."

Obama said, "that the remnants of what has been there and what we've been socialized is really deeply embedded in who we are." She added that "we would just be silly" to think that there is still a hesitancy among U.S. voters due to the past.

"We aren't even analyzing what those feelings are about because we're trying to pretend like it's all better," Obama told Cooper. "And I just think, how could it be all better? You know? We've been feeding off this bone for so long that it doesn't just go away, it takes time."

Obama said that the country has had two qualified women run and lose, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and fellow former first lady Hillary Clinton. She noted that Americans were "more comfortable" voting for her husband, a national political novice during a 2008 primary against Clinton, over the then-U.S. senator from New York.

"That doesn't mean that women should roll up their sleeves and call it a day, like we're still growing so yeah, I think it's going to happen," Obama said. "Are we ready now? I don't know. Prove us wrong. I would love that."

The "Becoming" author said she made the original comments, which she clarified were partly humorous, in reference to longstanding requests for her to run for president and Harris' 2024 election loss to Donald Trump.

"There are men out there that were not going to vote for a woman, people have had those conversations," Obama said. "Let's just be real about it and let's put that on the table and talk about, 'Well, what's that about?'"

In November, while promoting her new book "The Look," the wife of former President Barack Obama told Tracee Ellis Ross in Brooklyn that the U.S. wasn't ready for a woman in the White House.

"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."

Michelle Obama still believes in 'we go high'

During the episode, Obama also discussed her famous "When they go low, we go high" at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, telling the Golden Globe-nominated host that "yes, I still think that."

"What going high means to me is getting to the solution," Obama told Cooper. "It's outcome determinative, right? Like what is our strategic goal? And going high means that we are working strategically towards that goal with a plan and some objectives and it's not purely emotional."

"I think we should always be trying to go high, and I think anybody with a platform, a powerful platform – it's a responsibility – right? Because that platform is powerful," Obama added. "Because the words you say move people, and you can move them to productivity, or you can move them to division, or you can move them to hate."