Since the 2008 campaign ended and she has been on her own, Palin's path has often been to do the opposite of what political prognosticators and even friendly advisers have expected her to do.
More typical are Augie Malekovich, a menacing-looking but friendly financial adviser; Gabby Franco, a pint-size former Olympic pistol shooter from Venezuela; and Chris Cheng, a deadeye information technology specialist.
It didn't help that President Obama surrounded himself with bank-friendly economic advisers like Lawrence Summers and Timothy Geithner.
Bill Clinton campaigned for President in 1992 as a populist champion of the struggling middle class, but — confronted with deficits, a recalcitrant bond market, and Wall Street-friendly economic advisers — he governed as a moderate Republican.
Let's face it: No matter how friendly and egalitarian advisers might try to be, they wield enormous power over their students.
We so wanted to believe that our trusted and friendly brokers, financial advisers, accountants and bankers really did have our best interests at heart.
Already, there is a sense that not enough senior civil servants challenge or debate decisions that Mr Tung, or his friendly core of businessmen advisers, are keen to promote.
This assumes of course that your advisers are friendly to the idea.
With a nod, perhaps, to the unpopularity of all elected politicians in Japan, Mr Koizumi has leant heavily on unelected policy experts like Heizo Takenaka, a sparky, media-friendly economist who, as an adviser to the last administration, became known as "Mr Mori's brain".
