In an engineering culture, there's solid respect for reality.

In a political culture there's respect for caste, status, and power, but not so much for reality.

Political people believe their own PR. They believe all they have to do is throw money at something and bang the table enough and they can get whatever they want.

Engineers know it doesn't work like that. Sometimes they throw money at things and bang the table too, but ultimately if reality says "No" - or "Not yet" - they accept that and move on.