John Berry's Political Capital

The end of President Obama's first 100 days in office has been getting a vast (dare I say suffocating?) amount of mainstream media attention, but I've been thinking a great deal about John Berry's first two weeks in office, especially given his press conference on Capitol Hill today.

The press conference struck me for a couple of reasons. First, Berry seemed determine to make a splash, and to be defining a role for himself in the political process. I can't remember ever seeing Linda Springer or Michael Hager, the two OPM directors I've covered, on the Hill unless they were behind a witness table answering questions from Congressmen. Today, Berry was master of ceremonies, and he effectively increased the press draw by getting three Congressmen to stand with him. He did that even though he was essentially coopting their bill by implementing its provisions himself--they'll continue to push for its passage, but they'll be codifying what Berry has already done. And all three lawmakers praised him effusively. It was a very canny piece of politics.