Accomplishment

In a column today, Peggy Noonan offers Hillary Clinton some advice, among which is to tell potential voters the truth. One "truth" that Noonan says Clinton should tell is: "I'm up against an opponent who's classy and accomplished ...".

Obama classy and accomplished? Classy to some, maybe, but accomplished? What has he accomplished? He was a state legislator and then was elected to the U. S. Senate. That's accomplishment but it hardly qualifies a junior senator for the presidency. Perhaps Noonan thinks reading speeches well is an accomplishment. Or being thin? Well, OK, leading Clinton is an accomplishment, but Clinton is a flawed candidate. But Obama lead the other Democratic candidates, too. That's an accomplishment.

But shouldn't "accomplishment" mean something like finding a cure for cancer, or discovering a new way to explain how markets work, or negotiating an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Shouldn't an accomplish person be someone like the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a truly thoughtful and dignified writer, thinker, administrator and legislator.