[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

1) A lot of really, really stupid people have written bestselling books. Do the books sell because they're great, or because people are sheep when it comes to things like this? I think they're likely well written, but being a best selling author may not be an accomplishment which should vault someone into presidential contention.

2&3) I concur that these are both accomplishments. I don't think being the "first black" anything is necessarily an accomplishment, but graduating and law rev. at HLS, in general, is a fantastic accomplishment. I don't think it is overly important in the election for POTUS (I'll get to my meaning in a second) but it is a good life and professional accomplishment. Ann Coulter was order of the coif and an editor at UM law school, but I don't think anyone would suggest that this is an accomplishment which should place her in the running. This is arguably the standard for politics, rather than the exception.

4) Is being elected an accomplishment? I suppose so, but I'm not sure it means much to most Americans. Doing something while you're there may have a bigger impact.

5) Not trying to sell him short, 2 grammy's, right?

If you didn't pick up on it, my reply was centered around the recent event where this question was asked to a room full of Obama supporters on cable news, which was answered with silence. Finally one person piped up and said "He's inspirational," to which the cable newsperson replied, "thats a character trait, not an accomplishment."

There will be a lot of debate about Barack's (perhaps, lack of) accomplishments should he win the election, and while I do think his list is pretty short, I think most of what you mentioned are fairly substantial. Now do they differentiate him from the others? I doubt it. I wouldn't say he has the best resume. If I were a supporter, I would argue that his biggest accomplishment was turning down the big law lifestyle to work in community organization. Very few people who make such decisions have the choice to begin with.

no...one grammy...was extending your short (sighted) list