One this is for sure - whoever becomes (is)(or was) President, that person is only as good as the cadre of advisors surrounding him/her. There has never been an 'all-wise, all-knowing' President, and the folk who are appointed to the various "Secretaries, counsels-to, advisors, etc. form that inner-circle at 1600 PA Ave and make the policies which direct how the Departments operate. If that herd of folk contains any clunkers, the ripple-effect back within the Departments and eventually back to the White House can be brutal.

Having seen a lot of this first-hand, the real impacts are not necessarily at the Secretary level, but instead occur at all of the "Under Secretary" and next-level positions that fill the operating arms of each Department. Yet, the public never seems to notice or care whether the person filling these appointed positions has any technical qualifications or is simply being rewarded with title for having been loyal to the party. If both political parties have anything in common, it has been historically to use the "Plum Book" as a party employment guide where past party service always seems to be the ultimate deciding factor (when was the last time an administration appointed persons not of their party to key positions???)

So, we're back at the beginning. No matter what the campaign rhetoric, we the voters are betting on a blind race. While we can see the horse, we have little information on the jockey, no information on the trainer(s), don't know who "owns" the horse (now and in the future) and have no idea who the grooms will be when the race is over and the horse needs brushing down. Yet, the horse is only as good as the "support cast" and by itself is just so much meat-on-the-hoof.

A suggestion - pay a LOT of attention as to who surrounds each candidate, who endorses, who appears at campaign stops, who the lead-off speakers at each campaign appearance, and who attends the fund-raisers (especially the big ticket ones). Those will be the folk who will REALLY run the government and make the day-to-day decisions and provide the top-level advice the sitting President listens to - and in many cases directly TELL the President what the decision will be that will be made public from the White House. That's the reality of the situation - past, present, and future.