Here is my modest proposal and one that you can even get the Democrats to adopt enthusiastically.
Make every federal job at the level of GS-9 or higher exempt from Civil Service protection. The President does not have to fire those people and, in fact, would often be well advised to keep most of them in place in order to keep competent people operating the government. However, people in any sort of management position will serve at the pleasure of the President and can be fired if their opposition to his policies displease him.
Democrats will be happy to go along with this change because, as the White House travel office scandal demonstrated, Democrats have an endless need to place political supporters into government jobs. They will fire competent government professionals who have been life long Democrats in order to replace them with people who worked on the President’s campaign. It is not the job of Republicans to save Democrats from their most self destructive impulses.
