This is one of the things about our political system that I see as really messed up. These politicians get elected for a four year term and spend only 1 year of that actually working (if you can actually call what they do "working") They spend the other three years preparing for the next election cycle.
I don't think we get our money's worth!
HBD
Whoever calls me ignorant shares my own opinion. Sorrowfully and tacitly I recognize my ignorance, when I consider how much I lack of what my mind in its craving for knowledge is sighing for... I console myself with the consideration that this belongs to our common nature. - Francesco Petrarca
"Nothing is easier than to persuade people who want to be persuaded and already believe." - another Petrarca gem.
Ignorance is a most formidable opponent rivaled only by arrogance; but when the two join forces, one is all but invincible.