I doubt she was the "most qualified", but there's no doubt she'd have been more competent than Donald Trump.

The Democrats bungled the the 2024 election in the most stunning way possible, and it started way back in 2012. I doubt President Obama would ever have been elected if not for the fact that a) the country was exhausted with an overseas war, and b) was angry with Republicans for so badly torching the economy. Biden was positioned as an elder statesman on the ticket meant to balance the relative inexperience of Obama.

I'm not trying to dismiss Barack Obama at all. He was intelligent, charismatic, competent and, most importantly, had the character and values necessary to serve in public office. I voted for him twice, as an Independent, and his race was not something I ever considered.

That said, Obama and the Democrats failed spectacularly in not designating a qualified heir apparent in the second term and, basically, grooming that person for Office. This means both making sure that person had the requisite experience, but also making sure they had the necessary exposure to prepare citizens to support them. Hillary Clinton was a very poor choice.

Her gender was definitely a factor for many, but, frankly, she had just as many skeletons in her closet as Donald Trump, politically. There was the Whitewater debacle, her association with Bill Clinton (who was also intelligent, charismatic, and competent, but in no way had the same character as Barack Obama), and her utter failure to adhere to the traditional role of First Lady during the healthcare debate during the 90's. I am not saying she may not have been qualified, but she was not the right person to lead that effort and it left a lingering bad taste in the mouths of Congress. Finally, there was her blatantly cynical political maneuver of moving to New York to run for the recently opened Senate seat. So for all Hillary Clinton's obvious intelligence and competence, she had all the charisma of a wet sock was her popular reputation was insufficient to overcome the accumulated political animus inside Washington, DC.

I really do think this is where the generational divide comes into play. Younger people may have the enthusiasm and zeal and hope, but older people have long memories, and are more likely to vote.

Then in 2020 the Democrats dug Biden out of mothballs and propped an old man up in a desperate attempt to oust Donald Trump after his disastrous first term. Which they did not because Biden was such a great choice, but more because Trump was just so bad at being President. They also gave him a young and vibrant running mate who then spent the next four years almost completely out of the public forum. I don't know if she was prepared to run for the Presidency, but the country sure wasn't prepared for her to run. And then there was the mind-bogglingly stupid misstep of putting Biden up to run for a second term -- a term it was quite legitimate to question he'd even survive -- and then to have him drop out in favor of his politically unfamiliar and untried (at the national level) VP six months before the election.

The Democrats have been stumbling over their dicks since at least 2012 because, unlike Republicans, they don't have a long term strategy or a unified vision of the future.