Electable: Why America Hasn't Put a Woman in the White House . . . Yet – From Clinton to Harris: A Reporter's Investigation into Gender and Presidential Politics

by Ali Vitali

A fearless deep dive into the 2020 election from former MSNBC "Road Warrior" and now NBC Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali, who covered the campaign trail every step of the way--investigating the gendered double standards placed on women presidential candidates of that cycle and those who came before, and what it will take for a woman to finally break the glass ceiling and win the White House.

Opening with the moment when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were finally declared the winners of the 2020 race--the long, drawn-out journey towards who would next inhabit the White House, and the resulting and disputed defeat of Donald Trump, Electable is a sweeping look at a lingering question from that Presidential race. Why, when we saw more women run for President of the United States than ever before in our history, did we still not cross that final hurdle?

Following the 2020 race minute by minute as the reporter embedded with Elizabeth Warren, Ali Vitali witnessed up-close the way that our most recent election was unique--not simply for the way in which the incumbent conducted himself, but for the ways in which the field, rich with Democrats from all kinds of backgrounds, was both modern but also more of the same. With more female candidates than ever before, this was a history-making race, and yet these women--most of them incredibly qualified with decades of public service on their resumes--dealt once again with a different level of scrutiny than their male counterparts. Woven throughout is close examination of the treatment of Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro, Shirley Chisholm, and those on the right as well. Grappling with ideas around the "likeability" and "electability" issues, as well as fundraising hurdles many female candidates face, Vitali asks the same questions she and so many have been grappling with for decades, but especially since Hillary Clinton's devastating defeat in 2016: Why is it so hard for a woman to be taken seriously as a presidential contender? What will it take for men and women to be held to the same standard? What happens next?

Electable tackles these questions, with specific, behind-the-scenes, play-by-play detail.

Gabbard, Harris, Williamson, Gillibrand, Warren, Klobuchar...and then there were none.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Feminism, Social Science, Gender, Audiobook

352 pages, Hardcover

Published August 23, 2022

Reviews

[Traci Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great ideal for a book and smart to mix memoir into political analysis. Strong start. Lost steam. Not sure I left this book with more understanding of sexism in politics, was more of a rehashing than an making sense of type book.

[Josh Banfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't *dislike* this book, but if I knew it was just going to be another 2020 campaign re-telling I wouldn't have bought it. The campaign trail anecdotes and insight into the life of a campaign trail reporter were much more interesting than the surface-level attempts at analysis, but unfortunately there is much more of the latter here.

If you want a book that has something real to say about sexism in presidential politics read Big Girls Don't Cry by Rebecca Traister or any of the many good books about the 2016 election (Shattered, Chasing Hillary), and if you want a 2020 campaign book read Battle for the Soul.

[Sahitya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just found this book while browsing my library catalog and was immediately taken in by the title. I remember the name of the author from msnbc too, so it was an easy choice to pick up the book, without even reading the premise.

I didn’t realize the author was embedded in the 2020 campaign, so this book is an interesting rehashing of her experience traveling and interacting with the many democratic women candidates for President in 2020, the unique challenges they face due to their gender, and what does it mean that none of them made it as the nominee. The author tries to analyze both historically as well as the prospect of running against 45, and how that impacts an electorate’s decision making about voting for a nominee, and how this electability question always seems to only affect how the women candidates are perceived.

It was interesting to see how the candidates tried to balance their campaigns to be about their policies vs the issues they face as a woman running for the highest office in the country. However, it was inevitable but also sad to see that the double standard is very much front and center because the position of the president of USA was never envisioned as something a woman could helm, and the electorate even now in the 2020s seems to think that women are more emotional and not tough enough to handle such a position during crunch times. I also thought the author made some good points about how any woman who is ambitious and open about it is depicted in negative terms and we’ve gotten used to that across media and real life, but how can we ever get a woman as president if she can’t be ambitious enough to fight for it.

Overall I think despite the history making slate of women, POC and LGBT+ candidates who ran for office in 2020, it seems like it’s hard for the people to imagine someone in that position whom they’ve never seen before. I hope having Kamala Harris as VP has changed perceptions some but I don’t really see that. But I also hope the increasing diversity in media and newsrooms impacts the way women candidates are talked about and perceived as, and there’ll come a day when they can run as candidates who are the best person for the job and not have to defend their gender or clothing or ambition.

[WM D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Electable was a good book. The book examines the possibility of a woman finally being elected president of the United States and the reason why there hasn’t been a female president yet.

[Natalie Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Ali Vitali was an embedded reporter on the last presidential election and, through her experience and a review of past runs by other female candidates for the highest offices in the land, analyzes the reasons why we still don’t have a female president. So very interesting, frustrating and eye-opening. I highly recommend that everyone read it.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many a book on a woman’s place in politics and in society and often times I’m bored with regurgitated thought after regurgitated thought. Vitali brings a new lens with wit, authenticity, and heart. This book enrages you and gives you hope at the same time. Not a lot of writers can evoke both those emotions in one piece of work with such mastery. This is a must read.

[Julia McFarland · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an important book that I believe fell short in its execution. Ali is a credible author, as a 2020 presidential election reporter, but I found her research data to come second to her personal observations. I would have loved to hear every single word she had to say about how she perceived the election (seriously, she could have written a phenomenal memoir), but I wish I could have heard it presented alongside more factual trends and conclusions, as the book title suggested. My guess is that she wanted to release the book well before the 2024 election came into play, but it definitely felt rushed to production, falling short of its potential. Still worth reading!

[Meghan Foulk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well. That was relevant.

"Men are routinely given the benefit of the doubt on their qualifications and competency from the outset; women must actively clear that threshold to be taken seriously. Men can more easily run on the potential of what they can do and achieve; women must show and tout what they've already won and done to clear the threshold of seriousness required to be considered for leadership roles."

"The balancing act that women are taught from the time they first understand what running for office is continues until the time they become too old to run for office anymore. To do it, you gotta want it; but to get it, you can't show anyone how hard you'll work for it."

"Everyone loves the woman once she's not trying to take power away from men anymore."

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ali Vitali Has a unique style that made this book enjoyable to read, despite the topic having been rehashed many times already.
Ali Vitali Unique position being an embedded reporter with several of the candidates during the 2020 election, allows her to bring a new perspective. It was enlightening to get some of the behind the scenes of the campaigns. Vitali weaves together the 2020 election and the history of women in politics. Vitali not only dissects politics and the American views on women, but also takes on the news media, including her own network.
In the end there is no big "Aha" moment.

It will be an interesting take if Vitali is again covering the campaigns, primaries, and election that does lead to a woman president.

[Allie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ali Vitali once asked for a picture with me so the least I could do was read her book.

Also sorry Elizabeth Warren for hating so hard when you didn’t drop out and split the progressive vote paving the way for Biden’s win maybe I was part of the problem ❤️

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well researched and deeply reported book that is a must read heading into 2024. As she does on television, Vitali makes the concepts in the book accessible by engaging the reader through storytelling. Her voice and personality come through in the writing. We’re lucky to have such a knowledgeable reporter guide us through these issues.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Interesting interviews & behind the scenes with 2020 candidates. I'll be interested in an update after this year.

[Raelene Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with many of Ali’s assertions, but certain arguments she uses are contradictory with other ones. I agree that when it comes to electability, American voters don’t have the confidence and assurance to vote for a female candidate and believe she’ll be able to win. Many peoples desires for a female president or females in higher positions is often deterred by this very fact.

I thought it was interesting that Ali concluded that the majority of Democrats wanted a female president due largely to her identity as a woman. Contrastingly, the gender for a candidate played a much more minor role for Republicans who were more concerned about qualifications and a person’s capabilities.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the upcoming election.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author brings the enthusiasm and excitement about women running for the office of president in 2020 that surrounded the energy of the campaigns of JFK and Obama. I liked Amy Klobuchar assessment on the landscape in which they were running, regarding the different qualifications required of men versus women, that, “Men get to run on their potential and women run on experience.” That woman must prove the value of their experience to justify being in a presidential race.

The book focuses much of its attention on the women who ran for president in the 2020 election. I had hoped it would include more than a reference to Shirley Chisholm’s 1972 presidential campaign and Geraldine Ferraro’s vice-presidential bid in 1984. I like Chisholm’s campaign slogan of “Unbought and Unbossed” and her attitude that, “if you don’t have a seat at the table, then being a folding chair.”

The author spends most of her time on Harris, Klobuchar, and Warren. I wished she would have spent some time writing about Gabbard, who impressed me the most. Like Obama, Harris and Klobuchar previously AGs, were only in the senate one or two terms, which I think is not enough time to truly establish solid connections in WDC when following one of the traditional paths to the White House. I liked Warren but she (like Sanders) gets too mad and too angry too often. I admire how Warren took ownership of her loss, looking inward. She didn’t point fingers by blaming others. On the other hand, Clinton wouldn’t take ownership to see what she had done wrong, she blamed others, even when rumors and investigations were caused by her own actions.

Later in the book the author did cover the challenges that Ferraro faced. I believe Ferraro had the clout, but it was Mondale who was the weakest part of the democratic ticket in 1984. In that same chapter the author also addressed Elizabeth Dole’s presidential run against G.W. Bush in the 2000 race. It was interesting that Dole only got 19 percent of the press coverage and that there were few women journalist assigned to the campaign trail back in 2000. I was intrigued by the counsel and advise that Clinton provided to Harris prior to the VP debate in 2020.

In referring to Clinton’s challenges, the hardest part was all the baggage that she couldn’t shake off. I imagine that is why Obama went with Biden for his VP instead of Clinton. However, it makes me wonder if Obama had chosen Clinton as his VP instead of his SOS, she would have been in a better position in the 2016 election.

[Pam Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here in the US, we watch as the UK, once again, installs a woman Prime Minister, Liz Truss, their third.

And . . . this, of course, begs the question: When will the United States elect a woman President? And . . . who will be that woman?

I have to add: I certainly hope it's during my lifetime.

Capitol Hill journalist and author, Ali Vitali's Electable Why America Hasn't Put A Woman In The White House . . . Yet, focuses on the travels and travails along the political trail to the presidency. Vitali takes a specific look at the campaigns of the six Democratic women and the one Republican woman who ran for President in the 2020 campaign, including: Senators Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, Kristen Gillibrand, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, author Marianne Williamson, and also Republican, businesswoman, Carly Fiorina--more women running for President than ever before. All of them highly accomplished, intelligent women. Many have successfully won several political races in their careers.

Vitali ambitiously recorded both the truths, misconceptions, and myths about these women running for high office. She consistently compares/contrasts the issues and traits of male and female candidates. A good example is ego and ambition.

First of all--ego. Let's face it, whether male or female, one can't be a wimp and run for President. Voters often expect and are accepting of visible ego from male candidates. Women candidates, however, can be another matter. But whether the candidate is man or woman, the trick is, don't trip over one's ego.

Hand in hand with ego is ambition. A visibly ambitious, white, male candidate, is more likely expected and accepted. A woman's display of ambition, on the other hand, isn't frequently accepted. In fact, she can be thought by some as a "downright white bitch" or "she's an angry black woman."

The book contains a wealth of insight, examples, and viewpoints that are valuable both as general knowledge and important to know as a voter. I appreciate Ms. Vitali shedding light on the women's experiences in the presidential race. It speaks loudly.

Let's hope a woman President is more than a blip on the radar. Women do win.

Electable is a good read.

[Shelley Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ali Vitali was a NBC News correspondent tasked with covering the presidential hopeful running in 2020. During the run up to the primaries, that group included an unprecedented number of women, including Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar.

They were following the path Hillary Clinton had forged in 2016. And they faced the same prejudices and stereotypes she did, including, because of Clinton's defeat by He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, question #1-- is America ready to elect a woman president?

Vitali does a good job of dismantling these sexist arguments. For example: Clinton won the popular vote, illustrating that the majority of voters were indeed ready for a female president. All the women running in in 2020 had been elected, some repeatedly, to the US Senate. In fact the male candidates, including Joe Biden, had lost more races than any of the women.

Obstacle number one: women have to prove themselves again and again. Male candidates were allowed more mistakes (and more mediocracy). Women candidates had to tow a fine line between being seen as assertive, but never aggressive; they had to call out sexism, but never threaten men; they had to retain their femininity, but never be come off as coy or girly....is anyone else reminded of America Ferrera's masterful monologue in the film Barbie? In short, the demands made of women candidates are contradictory, illogical and impossible.

There are lots of interesting details and anecdotes as Vitali covers the candidates, and solid background on earlier women runningvfor president, including the incomparable Shirley Chisholm, who was mocked when she threw her hat into the ring in 1972.

I found little new insights into the sexism women running for major offices face, though Vitali does cite some interesting new research into this. But this was a highly readable and informative book, especially with Harris's running for president. Personally I find it bitterly ironic that the group most consistently denied political participation in America--and I am talking about Black women--may be the very ones who save American democracy.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recaps her experiences and observations covering the 2020 presidential campaign with special reference to the women running for Democratic nomination (she was following the Elizabeth Warren campaign for quite a while, e.g.). Interviews among others Hillary Clinton and people who worked on her campaigns for pre-2020 perspective to round out the picture.

It was funny in a sad way to revisit the onset of the pandemic, at which point she thinks she's going to get a nice week or so of rest from traveling around to in-person events. Reminded me of my reaction to Gov. Hogan shutting down the schools in Maryland (2 weeks? wow, this must be serious!)

Anyway, good brisk read, but aside from the pretty obvious general answer to the question in the title (sexism), there wasn't a lot of convincing analysis. Political reporting needs to go thru a sabermetric revolution like baseball writing did over past 40 years or so. I know quantitative political science research is out there, e.g., my American U colleague Allen Lichtman's "13 keys to the presidency" stuff that gets a ton of attention every 4 years, but it still goes down as useful to analyze stuff like impact of candidate sex as a moderator of the association between qualifications and electoral support by .............asking Amy Klobuchar if a woman with credentials as scant as those of Mayor Pete would have been taken seriously as a presidential candidate.

I'm pretty confident she was right to say "no, she wouldn't", but as a way to learn what's true it's not that compelling. Let's see a study predicting, say, media coverage of candidacy from education, military experience, reliably rated public speaking ability, years of experience in public service, whatever you think makes for a "qualified" background for a politician.........get the best algorithm, and then see if it overpredicts or undepredicts for men vs. women.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the summer of 2024, the question of if and when a woman will become President of the United States has resurfaced thanks to Joe Biden dropping out of the race and Kamala Harris taking the top spot on the Democratic ticket. It’s a question that has become a recurring part of the American political landscape for years, particularly following Hillary Clinton’s two runs (and one close near-miss in 2016). With it comes another question: why hasn’t it happened already? Ali Vitali, who covered Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 run for the White House and observed many of the would-be female Democratic candidates, explores that question in her 2022 book Electable.

And before you say “sexism,” a word. Yes, that plays a part. Something that Vitali admits and explores in taking readers through her experiences on the 2020 campaign trail and back into history. The way that candidates who weren’t men have been treated has played a role, from focusing on fashion choices to the way that we referred to “Hillary” by first name in 2016. Vitali herself as a reporter in the field notes her own allegorical experience with how she covered candidates and her looks the source of criticism and online commentary in a way that her male colleagues did not experience. Sexism has a part to play, as anyone who watched the 2016 campaign (and Hillary Clinton herself points out) should known.

The longer answer, as Vitali, reveals, is more complicated than that. Explored both through a semi-memoir of following candidates in 2019-20 (before Covid stuck, at least) and through the history of women who ran for President before, Vitali’s Electable shows that sexism isn’t the catch all answer. Indeed, the stories of Shirley Chisholm, Geraldine Ferraro, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin and others are themselves reflections of the shifting social norms and expectations of women in society in the last sixty years. Some of them and their the 2020 candidates were bad candidates (Palin) or had poorly run campaigns (Kamala Harris’s 2020 run which was brought down by staff infighting). Others, such as Elizabeth Warren, were strong candidates and campaigned hard but couldn’t overcome that most intangible of election criteria: being “likable” or “electable” to enough of the electorate.

Above all else, though, as Vitali argues, it’s about “the moment.” Clinton never quite finding hers or voters in Democratic primaries in 2020 not being convinced that a woman could beat Trump after the events of 2016. In a telling moment, Vitali writes of a Warren campaign stop ahead of the Iowa Caucus:

“No sooner did she finish her pitch to voters like Torina Hill of Muscatine, who was “tired of old white guys making all of the rules,” than a white man with graying hair walked up to the microphone to ask a question.
‘How do you convince white men — who aren’t as smart as me — how do you convince those white men over 50 that Elizabeth Warren’s the candidate?’”

Or, indeed, that our perceptions of what is “presidential,” determined by history and popular culture, leads us to imagine a man standing at a podium or behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office. Getting that to change has been a slow part of the process, as well.

In the end, breaking the glass ceiling to get a woman into the Oval Office has required not a single giant leap but the gradual breaking of it. A process that has left a number of candidates with the scars of their efforts. The moment, however, has been prepared for and still is.

Whether this November or the one four or eight years from now will be it is, ultimately, the question that Vitali can’t answer. Readers one day (including yourself) might know it. Until then, Electable stands as a fascinating exploration of that question and the experience of being a woman in American politics.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vitali, who reported on most of the candidates she discusses in this book for NBC, explores the reasons why there has not yet been a female President of the United States. She concentrates on the women who ran for President in 2020 (Elizabeth Warren, Kristen Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, and to a lesser extent Tulsi Gabbard and Marianne Williamson). Of course, she has to discuss Hillary Clinton's 2008 and 2016 runs, too. A lot has already been written about the issues that Vitali raises, but she convincingly returns to several themes: (1) that it's hard for the electorate to imagine a woman as President when previously the office has been held by white men (usually older white men); (2) that women face scrutiny in ways that men do not--niceness, appearance, stamina, ability to govern (even when they've proved it on much larger stages than many of the male contenders), and the ever-elusive "electability"; (3) that news coverage of women candidates is skewed because mostly men decide how and when the candidates will be considered newsworthy. She makes a lot of good points and shares inside info from the campaigns and interviews with some of the candidates. She also takes a close look at how Harris is doing, and is perceived, as Vice President to Joe Biden. Yet another book inspired by events since the 2016 election, but a worthwhile one in many ways.

[Avi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was glad to have read this book as I think I learned quite a bit. The book was stronger when Ali wrote in the first person, about her experiences covering the various candidates. The book was less strong when she speculated about why certain candidates failed and others succeeded.

There were some insightful tidbits about the campaigns and it made me reconsider my own potential bias (whether unconscious or not) when evaluating female candidates, and for that I'm appreciative.

Also come for the Warren Zuckerberg slander and the trademark Klob humor.

Ultimately though, Vitali's key thesis, included below I thought was eye opening and made me look inward:

"All the women, whether their campaigns overtly said so or not, were challenged by this invisible, unpredictable dynamic. To emote but not too much, to attack but not too harshly; to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack, but not offend anyone while doing so."

[Samantha Kubota · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Full disclosure that Ali Vitali and I both are employed by NBC Universal)

Anyone who lived through Hillary Clinton's loss to Trump should read this book. As a woman, I found it especially difficult to read certain portions (in a good way, I guess?) but it is very illuminating.
I found Vitali's argument to be very convincing, well-researched, and summarized what I can best describe as a feeling that many of us experience on a day-to-day basis. Of course, America hasnt put a woman in the White House because of sexism but there's so much more to that statement than meets the eye. Vitali does a good job of explaining exactly why, historical precedent, things that went wrong in each campaign leading up to 2016 and a somewhat optimistic look at the future.
"Because I would love to see it in my lifetime."

[Tarri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book examining why there has not been a woman sitting in the White House. When

I admit it, it is very disheartening watching perfectly qualified women lose elections every four years. Allie Vitalie has written a detailed synopsis of the ins and out of taking on the role of candidate in the United States.

A very insightful book with excellent detailed answers which are probably much better than my "people are idiots" reasoning. Watching the over qualified Hillary Clinton lose to someone who is not in the least qualified to shine her shoes was very disheartening and led me to this book written by a journalist who knows politics.

The author gives me hope that there will be a woman president in my lifetime, but I'm almost 70 so we must step out of our comfort zones soon. Enjoy

[Cassie Buckner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the things I learned from this book, but the title is misleading. I wanted more data and statistics and less squishy things. I wanted a more comprehensive look at the electability of a woman to the highest seat in this country and less about what happened in the last two presidential election cycles. I wanted more about why America hasn’t while Germany (and other places) have. And as much as I loved Elizabeth Warren, I could have used less about her bid for the presidency and more about what the future might hold for any woman candidate. Overall it would probably get another star if it were simply retitled.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting deep dive into women running for office, one that doesn’t focus solely on the big names. I appreciated the balanced view and that Vitali discussed and interviewed women from both sides of the aisle. While often depressing, the end left me feeling some hope that we are making strides to make politics more equitable. There was a lot of good and interesting information here, but it did feel a bit dry at times. Definitely a book I would recommend if you’re interested in politics.

[Gloria Givler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an insightful postmortem on the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. It tries to explain why Americans ultimately chose a traditional, “safe” candidate (read: old white man) to challenge Trump instead of one of the many well-qualified women competing for the nomination. It also explores the unique barriers women face when running for the highest office in the land. Both inspiring and infuriating, I would recommend this book to anyone wondering why we haven’t had a female President yet.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I sort of went into this book with the wrong expectations, assuming there'd be more on the history of the topic, although the lack of history is sort of the point! Running for president as a female is definitely a new phenomenon. I learned more about the 2020 Democratic primary and grasped I had a blind bias for my chosen candidate. 🤔 I also learned how kickass Amy Klobuchar is. She definitely deserves more credit. To sum up this book: Men run on possibilities. Women run on accomplishments. Sounds like it's time for a regime change.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew I had to read this before the election, and I’m glad I did. It was a fascinating deep dive into all three women who have vied for the highest office and the myriad of ways they are viewed and/or treated differently due to their gender.

It’s difficult to see how little progress has been made, but inspiring to think we might see that final glass ceiling shatter in just a month! I would love for Vitale to write a follow up at the conclusion of the 2024 election, regardless of the results.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really insightful deep dive into the presidential runs of the 2020 female hopefuls — an election featuring more women candidates than ever before, but unable to win. It examines the different standards women face compared to their male counterparts and the ever present qualifiers of “likeability” & “electability.” Found myself both fascinated and infuriated.

PopSugar Reading Challenge - A book about a holiday that's not Christmas

[Emma Nicholson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a political nerd and wanna-be campaign embed, I loved this book! Ali Vitali is such a strong reporter and gives readers a glimpse into what it means to run as a woman. I loved the way she framed it as the responsibility of the media to make sure we are covering women fairly, and listening to our colleagues who are women and especially women of color, because those experiences matter and can inform our reporting.

[Riley Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF - 35% read and couldn’t finish. The book was more memoir than I expected and wanted :( They say write what you know, but I was hoping for more “Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House?” and less of her experience of being a news anchor… If she’s only using campaign retelling as evidence for her answering her question, she could have answered this question without writing a book. Would have been a more interesting news segment than a book :(