Generally speaking it works like this: politicians make lavish promises during election campaigns and then wait for them to be forgotten, so that the promises can be safely ignored or even reversed. Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen is breaking new ground by waiting no longer than a few days before making it clear that much of what he said during the 'election' can be ignored.
It is breathtaking to realise quite how quickly Mr Tsang has turned his back on election pledges. The most glaring example has been the rapid backtrack on commitments to further the progress of universal suffrage.
This came with a broad hint that his administration intended to introduce a so-called transitional phase, to prevent any kind of popular election for the legislature in the near future.
The chosen device for blocking the development of representative government, known as the Committee on Governance and Political Development of the Commission on Strategic Development, was put on hold during the election campaign.
This week Stephen Lam Sui-lung, the man in charge of preventing the emergence of a democratic Hong Kong, let it be known that his tame committee had obligingly thought up new ways of blocking elections. They used the familiar excuse that nothing can be done until the impossible dream - everyone agreeing on what must be done - is realised.
During the election campaign, Mr Tsang promised to resolve the issue of universal suffrage within his term of office. Now it appears that he is working towards a situation in which he will let his minions devise a series of blocking plans, and then blame the democrats for not agreeing to them.
Pro-democrat legislators, who heard Mr Tsang say during the campaign that he was going to reach out to them, took him at his word and tried to arrange a meeting to discuss these matters. He waited not even a day before turning them down; the following week came news of this new plan to erect another barrier to thwart elections.
