And if needed, fire the wrong people. That's what made Devine famous during the early 1980s as a new administration, and a new vision for America, was constructed. That is the most important lesson. Devine remembers when Reagan once dropped below 40 percent among his conservative base. George Bush has learned that critical lesson.
People are policy.
If you pick the right people and defer to them, it's going to work well. Although considered a conservative hero, Reagan didn't always surround himself with conservatives. Conservatives particularly distrusted deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver and Chief of Staff Jim Baker. According to the Brookings Institution, there are more than 1,000 leadership posts in the executive branch that require presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. And there are roughly 3,000 appointments below the Cabinet level.