best laid plans?

Here is a brief quote from Terry Fallis' book The Best Laid Plans:

"On Parliament Hill, the pendulum of power swings between the

cynical political operators (CPOs) and the idealist policy wonks

(IPWs). It’s a naturally self-regulating model that inevitably transfers

power from one group to the other – and back again. It can take

years, even multiple elections, for the pendulum to swing to the

other side. It was just my luck that I – a member in good standing

of the idealist-policy-wonk contingent – would arrive in Ottawa just

as the backroom boys were starting their swing back up to the top.

To be fair, governments work best when the pendulum is somewhere

near the middle – with the CPOs and IPWs sharing power.

When the CPOs are dominant, as they were when I arrived in

Ottawa (and when I left, for that matter), they tend to erode public

confidence in the democratic process and infect the electorate

with the cynicism, self-interest, and opportunism that flow in their

veins. In the mind of a hardcore CPO, the ends always, always justify

the means. At least, that’s my balanced, impartial view.

On the other hand, when the IPWs are at the helm, however

well-meaning we may be, we often lack the necessary killer

instinct and political acumen to push our vaunted policies across

the finish line. We can’t seem to accept that selling the policy is

just as important as coming up with it in the first place. We seldom

get to the ends because we mess up the means."