Is There A Doctor In The (White) House?

Election fraud has been rendered a non-issue. Hunter Biden’s investigation for tax dodging continues.

But the big story is Jill Biden’s insistence on being referred to as Dr. Jill Biden.

It reminds me of a story a fellow Pittsburgh sports columnist told me of trying to call then-Pitt men’s basketball coach Roy Chipman for a few quotes.

Chipman’s stuffy secretary answered the call and when said writer asked to talk to Roy, she took the opportunity to remind him that it was “Dr.” Roy Chipman.

Chipman’s doctorate was not in physics, or mathematics, or history, or English, but rather physical education. At least it wasn’t in coaching basketball, a subject in which Chipman was more bachelor’s degree level.

It is not clear if it was a Chipman dictate that he be referred to as a Dr., or just the secretary taking it upon herself to be an elitist.

Generally, those who would insist on being referred to as Dr., at least beyond those who have a medical doctorate, or those who are operating outside their doctoral field, are decried as elitists.

But not so in the case of Dr. Jill. It was particularly helpful as the COVID-19 situation was being politicized, to note that Joe Biden’s wife was a Dr. But her doctorate is in education, not medicine.

No matter. The uninformed would never bother to make that determination and they certainly would not be told so by the fawning media, so Joe probably picked up some votes based on Jill being a Dr.

An Op-Ed piece appearing in the Wall Street Journal recently that suggested Dr. Jill drop the Dr. has been reacted to with customary outrage, blaming the writer for being a misogynist, and perhaps a Neanderthal and a racist, too.

Funny, but the left-leaning media had ridiculed Rand Paul, when he was running for president, for preferring to be referred to as Dr. Rand Paul. He is an ophthalmologist.

In an April 10, 2015, editorial, the Los Angeles Times mocked Dr. Paul with the headline “If Paul won, would we have to call him Dr. President?”

The rambling editorial also remarked that people such as Dr. Charles Krauthammer, should ditch the Dr. title when functioning as a political pundit, even though he had a doctorate in psychology.

But Dr. Jill is a political figure, too. Her claim to fame is being Joe Biden’s husband, so maybe she should dispense the Dr. title?

No, that is ridiculous even to suggest since Dr. Jill, unlike Paul or Krauthammer, is on the political left, and a woman to boot, so her wishes must be honored, sanctified, and chiseled into granite.

Technically, it should be Dr. Joe Biden, too. He has a law degree, which is a doctorate. But you don’t often hear lawyers insisting on being referred to as doctors.

When the Bidens appear in the U.S. Capital for the State of the Union address, it will be Dr. Joe and Dr. Jill went up a hill. But they won’t be going there to fetch pails of water. The lame-stream media does the job of carrying their metaphorical political water for them.

While attending my son’s commencement for his Master’s Degree, I was astounded to see some of the doctorates that were awarded.

Taking a few minutes to do a general internet search, I find that in general one can pursue, at various universities, doctorates in Dramaturgy (drama and theatre), Parapsychology (paranormal), Safenology (societal safety), Thanatology (working in a hospice) and ambiguous things known as “self-designed” doctorate programs, the post-graduate equivalent of Burger King’s “Have it your way!”

Put in the time. Pay the money. Shazzam, you’re a doctor.

There was one of those self-designed doctorates awarded at my son’s event for something that on the surface seemed patently ridiculous, but I can’t recall the specifics.

I wonder if that woman goes around insisting that people refer to her as Dr.?

It seems such insistence, whether by Dr. Jill or others, serves as a window into an insecure individual’s psyche. Desperate for acclaim and respect, they want to trumpet titles over actual accomplishments.

But theirs is a battle that eventually they are likely to lose.

When Chipman died at the early age of 58 due to cancer, and after he had left coaching for private business, the Associated Press obit, as published in the New York Times called him simply Roy Chipman basketball coach.

No Dr. Roy. No reference at all to that doctorate.

I suspect that when Jill Biden dies, similarly there will be no Dr. title and her most notable deed will be having married a president of the United States, for which there is, as of now, no doctorate degree.