Waiting

So, we've got ourselves a nominee for Office of Personnel Management director. But John Berry's people say he isn't giving interviews until after he's confirmed. And Deej Lundgren, the communications director for the Senior Executives Association told me on Thursday that Berry's told representatives of stakeholder groups that he won't be meeting with any of them until after he's confirmed either. If you've heard different, of course, tell me.

This strikes me as a little odd. A lot of Obama's nominees have been front and center fairly quickly after their nominations. All the employee groups I've talked to have seemed very enthusiastic about Berry, so it's unlikely that he'd have a tough time with any of them. Berry has support from key lawmakers in the House and Senate based on long-standing relationships, so it seems unlikely that he'd say anything in an interview that would derail his long-anticipated nomination. And his job depends on getting a lot of stakeholder input and buy-in. I can see why, with the Obama team's notoriously tight media policy, John Berry wouldn't be talking to me. But it seems strange that he wouldn't be talking to the folks he's going to have to get on board for his agenda.