With all due fairness to Mr. Singh--or any high profile political leader--there's a lot of demands. Only a few can be fulfilled. The longer-lasting politicians have a good sense when to fulfill and when to bypass. Your friend may just be an unfortunately bystander of a nice guy who is already juggling balls . . . and plates . . . . and umbrellas. . . . and toy ships . . . . and fish in small tanks.

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To make a better world, I joined a political party in 1986. Part of my plan was to eventually become an elected politician myself. But after a year of seeing a politician's lifestyle, I said "no way."

But I stayed in the back rooms somehow believing I was being influential. . . . . . . . . . . until I figured out the whole system was dysfunctional.

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In Chapter 2 of my TDG book, I list the "12 limitations of western democracy. One of them is that politicians spend more time on politics than on governance. I think I have 400 words to that effect.

I expanded that idea to an eight-part series on Medium. Now maybe 4,000 words. Here is the first part of "Politics vs. Governance":

https://medium.com/p/4846e0966017

Follow the links. If you have the time, you might like this "story." Lots of commentary on back-bench Canadian MPs.