OP-ED WRITER SLAMMED OVER HIS DISMISSING JILL BIDEN’S DOCTORATE

An op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal suggesting soon-to-be first lady Jill Biden should drop the “Doctor” title from her name since she had not delivered a child, arguing it “sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic,” has drawn widespread criticism, Tom Batchelor reported for the Independent of the UK.

“Please consider stowing it, at least in public, at least for now,” wrote Joseph Epstein. But many disagreed, calling his perspective misogynistic and a “waste of column space.” Bernice King, daughter of civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr., tweeted: “My father was a non-medical doctor. And his work benefited humanity greatly. Yours does, too.”

Dr. Jill Biden, 69, has four university degrees and never stopped teaching at the Northern Virginia Community College even when Joe Biden was vice president for eight years. “If we get to the White House, I’m gonna continue to teach,” she told CBS News in November. “It’s important, and I want people to value teachers and know their contributions, and lift up the profession,” Graemie Massie of the Independent also reported from Los Angeles.

Dr. Biden has also been a forceful defender of her husband, both politically and physically. In February she intervened when a heckler tried to confront Mr Biden at an event in New Hampshire, pushing the protestor away from him. “I’m a good Philly girl,” she told reporters with a smile after the incident. Then in March she jumped in to protect Mr Biden when two anti-dairy protestors separately charged towards him at a rally in Los Angeles, holding them off until they were removed by security.