Very well put.
A good friend of mine, part of the DC Beltway Bandit bureaucracy himself, once put it this way:
"Washington politics is like professional wrestling for college graduates."
He had to know about the Washington game because it was an essential for his job, but he always felt a little ashamed about his familiarity with it and his need to immerse himself in it. I guess it would be like being a trained and dedicated journalist who could only get a job with the National Enquirer.