If you thought President-Elect Joe Biden’s wife Jill is a medical doctor (because she insists on being called “Dr. Jill Biden”), go ahead and forgive yourself for making that mistake. You’re not the only one.
In March, Whoopi Goldberg suggested on “The View” that if Biden is elected, he should appoint his wife surgeon general. Goldberg then confidently declared that Jill Biden is, “a hell of a doctor. She’s an amazing doctor.”
The audience cheered in gleeful approval, before a co-host pointed out that Jill Biden is not a medical doctor. She has a doctorate in education, a degree she earned from the University of Delaware in 2007.
Whoopsie!
The only thing that’s amazing here is that Goldberg expressed her opinion with such certainty even though she had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. Goldberg had no basis for thinking that Jill Biden is an “amazing” doctor or that she would make a good surgeon general, yet Goldberg acted as though she had some useful knowledge and insight to share. In reality, she leapt to a foolish conclusion.
Goldberg admitted later in the show that she made a mistake.
People are now talking about the soon-to-be First Lady’s credentials again because an opinion writer for the Wall Street Journal suggested in a recent op-ed that Jill Biden should drop the “doctor” honorific in front of her name, arguing that it is both misleading and pretentious. (Biden even uses the doctor title for her Twitter handle: @DrBiden). The Left and their media allies immediately lined up to defend Jill Biden’s use of the title and attacked the Wall Street Journal as misogynistic for running the piece. A spokesperson for Biden called it a “sexist and disgusting attack” and called on the paper to “remove this repugnant display of chauvinism from your paper,” even though the op-ed writer made it clear that his advice also applies to highfalutin men who use their academic title outside of a professional setting.
Despite the backlash on Twitter and criticism from Team Biden, the Wall Street Journal is not backing down. An editor for the paper defended the op-ed, writing that “these pages aren’t going to stop publishing provocative essays merely because they offend the new administration or the political censors in the media and academe.”
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