I was exposed to a whole new bureaucratic lingo. I had to anticipate “pushback” from constituencies that I had never even known existed. I saw government officials “foot-stomping” points they felt strongly about. When the President was meeting with another head of state, we had to agree in advance on what “the ask” and “the deliverables” would be. When the bureaucracy was mired in gridlock, one hoped for an “action-forcing event” like a high-level official’s testimony before Congress or an upcoming meeting with a foreign minister that would create pressure to make a decision.
