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WASHINGTON: A Wall Street Journal opinion piece criticizing incoming First Lady Jill Biden’s use of the title “Dr.” because she has a Ph.D. in educational science, rather than a medical degree, has caused widespread outrage in United States, including that of his predecessor Michelle Obama.
The Journal article, published on Saturday, has come under fire for its attack on Biden, who earned his EdD in 2007 and plans to continue teaching during the time in office of her husband, President-elect Joe Biden.
Column author Joseph Epstein was accused of sponsoring Biden when he referred to her as a “girl” and suggested that using the title was “fraudulent” and “a touch of humor.”
The attack sparked heated debate and on Monday, Michelle Obama joined the ranks of advocates for her husband’s vice president’s wife.
“For eight years, I watched Dr. Jill Biden do what many professional women do. – successfully handle more than one responsibility at a time, from her teaching duties to her official White House duties and her roles as mother, wife and friend, ”she wrote in an Instagram post.
“And right now, we’re all seeing what happens to so many professional women too, whether their titles are Dr., Mrs., Mrs., or even First Lady: Too often, our accomplishments are greeted with skepticism, even with derision.
“After decades of work, we are forced to prove ourselves once again,” Obama said.
Michael LaRosa, a spokesman for Biden, told the newspaper on Twitter that “if you had any respect for women, you would remove this disgusting display of chauvinism from your newspaper and apologize to it.”
Biden herself responded indirectly Sunday when she tweeted: “Together, we will build a world where our daughters’ accomplishments will be celebrated rather than denigrated.”
Northwestern University, where Epstein had taught until 2003, quickly distanced itself from him, saying in a statement that the article “casts an insulting spray on Dr. Jill Biden’s legitimate public vindication of her credentials and doctoral experience.”
Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and the nation’s first second husband, noted: “This article would never have been written about a man.”
And Hillary Clinton, former first lady and former secretary of state, just tweeted: “Her name is Dr. Jill Biden, get over it!”
The newspaper’s opinion pages caused controversy in June when 280 Journal employees complained of “lack of verification and transparency” after an article by Vice President Mike Pence denied there was a second wave of the pandemic in the United States.
