Wall Street Journal Opinion Editor Defends Item on Dr. Jill Biden

“There’s nothing like playing the race or gender card to stifle criticism,” Paul A. Gigot said as he accused Democrats of orchestrating a coordinated response to an op-ed piece.

By Marc Tracy
Dec. 13, 2020

The editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal accused strategists for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. of instigating a coordinated response to an op-ed article published Friday evening that called on Jill Biden, Mr. Biden’s wife, to refrain from referring to herself as “Dr. Biden” because she is not a medical doctor, but rather holds a doctorate in education.

After earning two master’s degrees, Dr. Biden received her doctorate in 2007 from the University of Delaware. She also taught English at a community college in Virginia, and has said she hopes to continue doing so while serving as first lady.

“The Ph.D. may once have held prestige, but that has been diminished by the erosion of seriousness and the relaxation of standards in university education generally,” Joseph Epstein wrote in the op-ed item.

In the response, published Sunday evening and for Monday’s newspaper, Paul A. Gigot, the top editor for The Journal’s opinion section for nearly two decades, pointed to negative notes about Mr. Epstein’s article posted to Twitter by two Biden staff members as well as Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Senator Kamala Harris, the vice president-elect, as evidence of a campaign.

“Why go to such lengths to highlight a single op-ed on a relatively minor issue?” wrote Mr. Gigot, who elsewhere said the responses reflected “what was clearly a political strategy.” “My guess is that the Biden team concluded it was a chance to use the big gun of identity politics to send a message to critics as it prepares to take power. There’s nothing like playing the race or gender card to stifle criticism.”

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