I'm a reporter, and I have modest street smarts. I have intuition and I'm a good judge of character. That is to say that I'm not the type of person who ends up reporting on the White House or Congress. Those reporters behave like they just fell off the turnip truck.
If I could advise editors, I would tell them to hire and promote reporters who went to state schools and didn't grow up in affluent suburbs. It seems that most Washington political reporters never had anything bad happen to them. They grew up with safety nets. They don't perceive hidden motives.