Michelle Obama on 2016 election: ‘What is going on in our heads where we let that happen?’

Michelle Obama said Saturday that she is still reflecting on the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, asking how “we let that happen.”
The former first lady appeared as the keynote speaker at the United State of Women Summit in Los Angeles, where she spoke about how to reflect on standards for women following Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential bid.
“In light of this last election, I’m concerned about us as women and how we think,” she said at the event. “What is going on in our heads where we let that happen, you know?”
In the 2016 election, 54 percent of women voted for Clinton, though that figure was sharply divided by race.
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“When the most qualified person running was a woman, and look what we did instead, I mean that says something about where we are,” Obama said, referencing President Trump’s victory in the 2016 election. “That’s what we have to explore, because if we as women are still suspicious of one another, if we still have this crazy, crazy bar for each other that we don’t have for men … if we’re not comfortable with the notion that a woman could be our president compared to … what, then we have to have those conversations with ourselves as women.”
Obama encouraged women to have high aspirations, but went on to add that she wished “girls could fail as bad as men do and still be OK.”
“Watching men fail up is frustrating. It is frustrating watching men blow it, and win,” she later added while discussing standards for women.
Obama also touched on the importance of education for women and encouraging young girls to speak their minds.
The United State of Women describes itself on its website as a “national organization for any woman who sees that we need a different America for all women to survive and thrive.”
Thousands of women attended the summit this weekend, which says its goal is to leave women “with new ideas and partners, hands-on training, and the tools and resources they need to make change at all levels.”
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