Last week, Nancy Pelosi blamed Hillary Clinton's disappointing performance in the polls to the fact that third-party candidates like Gary Johnson are siphoning off her vote. This week, President Barack Obama is getting in to the act of preparing Dems for Hillary Clinton's defeat by trotting out the tired old excuse that sexism is weighing her down in the polls.

Obama, speaking at an event in New York City on Sunday, suggested Americans are biased against "powerful women," which is why Clinton isn't running away with this election.

"There's a reason why we haven't had a woman president," Obama said at the fundraiser for Clinton. "We as a society still grapple with what it means to see powerful women and it still troubles us in a lot of ways, unfairly."

Obama added later: "This should not be a close election but it will be, and the reason it will be is not because of Hillary's flaws."

I, and millions of other Americans, disagree. Even Clinton's staunchest feminist supporters acknowledge her flaws as at least part of the reason she is a historically disliked candidate (second only to current GOP nominee Donald Trump).

Further, does this mean Obama was being sexist when he was running against Clinton in 2008 and didn't step down and let her win?

Clinton is hardly even seen in terms of gender. She's been in the public eye for decades. She's earned a reputation as being just as corrupt and self-serving as any male politician.

Obama's claim is further belied by a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, which found broad majorities of both men and women happy that the milestone of a woman nominated by a major party has occurred, they just wish it was someone other than Clinton.

Clinton and her supporters would like to believe that sexism is the reason Clinton isn't running away with the election, but the fact of the matter is that she is a deeply flawed candidate. A majority of Americans find her untrustworthy due to her email scandal and issues involving pay-to-play schemes with the Clinton Foundation.

Similar criticisms of America were lodged when Obama was running, with his supporters and pundits claiming American was too racist to elect a black man to the presidency. Obama easily won that election and entered the White House with an extremely high approval rating, as well as having the media in his back pocket.

It might have been a closer race if the country hadn't suffered a financial disaster in late 2008, but it would also be difficult to put an Obama loss solely on or even mostly on racism and not the fact that, back then, Obama had only been in the Senate a few years and hadn't done much of anything to merit running for president.

Perhaps Democrats are in full-on panic mode following weeks of bad news surrounding Clinton. They're just preparing a defense — "America is sexist" — in case Clinton loses.

Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.