Good politicians are rarely modest. The job requires an uncanny ability to sell each bit of incremental progress as a success in and of itself. That’s especially true for someone like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who dares to take on America’s health problems and faces considerable skepticism from a large number of Americans—including many of those who work beneath him at the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy’s overarching goal of addressing chronic disease could take many lifetimes to achieve. But in just under seven months, Kennedy said at an event on Tuesday, he has “accomplished more already than any health secretary in history.”

He’s right that the clip at which he’s shaken the government’s health agencies is remarkable by any measure—dizzying for his supporters and critics

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