And those appointees, regardless of past experience, know so little about government operations they soon succumb to the agendas of their civil service staffs. At worst, the process amounts to a four-year cycle of inconvenience. Eighty percent of all political appointees can be trained to give a good imitation of statesmanship in less than six months. Those that resist the training will vanish, removed by their own party as political liabilities. Change, when it happens, comes from the staff.
Opportunities arise from gaining a new boss.
Proposals shelved for years get dusted off. But new federal programs and new initiatives only happen when the employees who do the real work of government change their goals and work to make those new goals a reality. Timing, not ideology, determines who gets the glory. Much more often, the federal work force holds the brave new administration at bay with the semblance of change. Old programs get new names to flatter new management.