A sad thought about politics

The recent resignation of Andy Card brings a sad thought about politics to me. Or, rather, the response to it does; in a nutshell, that due to falling ratings, the President's prime option was not to figure out what he was doing wrong and fix it, but rather to get somebody new in an office or two.

While it is certainly true that sometimes new bodies bring new ideas, it scares me somewhat to think that politicians spring immediately to the new body instead of leading with new ideas. It is the ad hominem fallacy as public policy, casting away God's image because repentance is apparently unthinkable in DC.