Stop Bashing Washington Insiders; You'll Need Them

Voters have loved to hate Washington insiders since Washington’s founding, and politicians have sought to capitalize on those feelings for just as long. So it makes sense that even the GOP ticket, fortified by Sarah Palin, is running as an outsider insurgency. But, Norman Ornstein points out in the Washington Post, no administration can accomplish change without "the deep deployment of people who know how to move the levers of power from the inside."

“America's political process is built to throw obstacles in the way of far-reaching change and dramatic initiatives,” writes Ornstein, so how about a little more respect for the people know how to get things done? Historically, presidents are able to enact reforms only during a crisis or when his party dominates Congress. Neither is likely this year, so whoever takes the White House is going to need a big assist from the very folks they're villifying.
(More Washington stories.)