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All political appointees must submit their resignations when the new President is sworn in. The so-called Plum list provides the jobs that can be filled with political appointees.

There have been cases where political appointees filter into career positions. They do it by either applying for existing career positions or the jobs they hold are converted into career postions. Normally the public employee unions guard career positions from being filled with political appointees, but given the Dems and the affinity the unions feel for them, it is possible that this is happening to a greater extent than when I was in government. GAO does studies and reports on this.

Here is one such study done in January 2010. We won't know what Obama did until after he leaves office.