Yes. It would take a president and/or members of Congress who cared enough about having an effective space program instead of using NASA as a pork delivery truc

Yes. It would take a president and/or members of Congress who cared enough about having an effective space program instead of using NASA as a pork delivery truck, to make the change. It would also be resisted at least as much by members of Congress who represent NASA's contractors, besides just its facilities (like Dana Rohrabacher, the congressman from Boeing). On the other hand, it would also naturally be supported by members of Congress representing at least some NASA centers and contractors who would clearly gain from the move. A reform like this will also be boosted though by SpaceX as it keeps accomplishing more and more on a comparatively low budget, making forward-looking technologies readily available of its own volition (Grasshopper, Falcon Heavy, methane rocket engines that can use Mars in situ manufactured fuel, etc.), and creating more and more embarrassment for the traditional space program and its contractors (like the Senate Launch System (SLS)), and forcing everyone to ask, why can't NASA do that? Hopefully they will eventually shame Congress and the President into reforming NASA into a professionally-managed organization, i.e. reforming away their own control over it and making it more like a Federal Reserve for space exploration.