The Wall Street Journal Published a Rant Telling Dr. Jill Biden to Drop Her Title

UPDATE: December 18, 2020—Jill Biden appeared on The Late Show with her husband, President-elect Joe Biden, and both of them addressed the Wall Street Journal op-ed that called on Dr. Biden to drop her title. 

“That was such a surprise,” Jill told host Stephen Colbert. “And it was really the tone of it.”

She continued, “One of the things I’m most proud of is my doctorate. You know, I worked so hard for it.” 

Joe weighed in, as well, joking, “She had two master’s degrees. She kept going to school all the time, while teaching at night. I said, ‘Jill, why don’t you get a doctorate and make us some real money?’' She gets the doctorate and gets a $2,000 raise.”

But overall, Jill Biden said she appreciated much of the response to the piece. “Look at the people who came out in support of me. I am so grateful, and I was just overwhelmed by how gracious people were toward me,” she said. 

UPDATE: December 17, 2020—Vice President–elect Kamala Harris defended Jill Biden in an interview with Good Morning America. 

“I was deeply disappointed that, in 2020, that kind of approach would be given any legitimacy,” Harris told Robin Roberts. 

“She worked hard. She raised her kids. She went to night school. She got degrees. She earned everything she has,” Harris continued. “That’s the American way; that’s the American spirit. So, when there’s anyone who tries to diminish the significance of people who work hard, I think it’s just not the American way, frankly.”

UPDATE: December 14, 2020—Dr. Jill Biden tweeted an apparent response to the Wall Street Journal op-ed that called on her to stop using her (well-earned) “Dr.” title. 

“Together, we will build a world where the accomplishments of our daughters will be celebrated, rather than diminished,” the future first lady wrote. 

Dr. Biden’s transitional press spokesperson, Michael LaRosa, more directly called out the WSJ over the weekend. “.@jamestaranto, you and the @WSJ should be embarrassed to print the disgusting and sexist attack on @DrBiden running on the @WSJopinion page,” he wrote. “If you had any respect for women at all you would remove this repugnant display of chauvinism from your paper and apologize to her.”

The WSJ, however, appears to be doubling down on its stance. Paul Gigot, who edits the editorial pages of the paper, accused the Biden team of using “identity politics,” writing in a new column. He even goes so far as to call the outrage around the Jill Biden column “Trumpian.” 

ORIGINAL STORY: 

Yes, the Wall Street Journal really published an op-ed suggesting Dr. Jill Biden is unworthy of calling herself “doctor.” 

Titled “Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not If You Need an M.D.,” the opinion piece suggests that Dr. Jill Biden—who earned her doctorate in education at age 55 while raising three kids—is minimizing the work of medical professionals by using her hard-earned title. In the words of its author, “no one should call himself [sic] ‘Dr.’ unless he has delivered a child.” (Guess pediatricians, oncologists, and orthopedic surgeons should give up their titles too!) 

The piece was written by 83-year-old writer Joseph Epstein, who it should be noted does not have a doctorate or a master’s degree—Dr. Biden has both—and he likens her achievements to honorary degrees often handed out to celebrities and other influential figures. That’s incorrect. Dr. Biden worked toward her doctorate for more than a decade.

“Madame First Lady—Mrs. Biden—Jill—kiddo,” Epstein began his rant. “A bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter. Any chance you might drop the ‘Dr.’ before your name? ‘Dr. Jill Biden’ sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic.” 

Unappealing sarcasm aside, Epstein somehow thought it was okay to call Dr. Biden “kiddo.” As Kamala Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff wrote on Twitter, “This story would never have been written about a man.” I’d go further and suggest that if by some small chance a writer did write this story about a man, it  wouldn’t have been published in a newspaper like the Wall Street Journal. 

Obviously, Emhoff was not the only one on the Internet insulted by the op-ed. “The @WSJ should be embarrassed to print the disgusting and sexist attack on @DrBiden running on the @WSJopinion page,” Dr. Biden’s spokesperson Michael LaRosa tweeted. “If you had any respect for women at all you would remove this repugnant display of chauvinism from your paper and apologize to her.” 

Here are some more reactions:

Though perhaps my favorite response comes from the Merriam-Webster dictionary account, which pointed out that “the word ‘doctor’ comes from the Latin word for ‘teacher.’”

In a somewhat ironic turn of events, Northwestern University, where Epstein taught as an “honorary emeritus lecturer,” has removed his profile from their website, according to Newsweek. “Northwestern is firmly committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, and strongly disagrees with Mr. Epstein’s misogynistic views,” the university told The Daily Northwestern. 

Originally Appeared on Glamour