This just gets better and better. Politico is reporting that Michelle Obama may get out in the public eye to promote the Democrats proposed takeover of health care and who better to have out there then somebody who helped pioneer the program officially known as the Urban Health Initiative, but most often referred to as "patient dumping". Maybe now we can get some answers to some lingering questions that the Chicago Sun-Times raised over a year ago. You know when the campaign was going on and the media was in full "See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil" mode.
Sen. Barack Obama's wife and three close advisers have been involved with a program at the University of Chicago Medical Center that steers patients who don't have private insurance -- primarily poor, black people -- to other health care facilities.
Michelle Obama -- currently on unpaid leave from her $317,000-a-year job as a vice president of the prestigious hospital -- helped create the program, which aims to find neighborhood doctors for low-income people who were flooding the emergency room for basic treatment. Hospital officials say such patients hinder their ability to focus on more critically ill patients in need of specialized care, such as cancer treatment and organ transplants.
Some of the other players in this scheme are David Axelrod, now the president's Senior Advisor, Valerie Jarrett, another Senior Advisor to the president, and Dr. Eric Whitaker. Along with the other usual suspects of Rezko and Blagojevich.
Who is Dr Eric Whitaker you ask? Well besides being the head of the hospital when Michelle was hanging out there earning a 6 figure salary for doing very little he is now the head of the Illinois Department of Health and Barack's bestest buddy ever from his Harvard days. Why they are so tight that sometimes when Obama is hanging out with some of his czars and other advisors he has Eric hang out with them.
President Obama will on Thursday night recline -- one is obligated to, after all -- at the first ever White House Passover seder to be attended by a sitting U.S. President.
Eric Lesser, special assistant to senior adviser David Axelrod and all-around mensch, is running the event, which is not expected to include as guests top White House tribesmen Axelrod or White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
Guests will include:
*President Obama
*The First Lady
*Malia Obama
*Sasha Obama
*Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President
*Dr. Eric Whitaker (personal friend)
*Susan Sher, Counsel to the First Lady, and family
*Eric Lesser, Special Assistant to the Senior Advisor, and family
*Arun Chaudhary, White House Videographer, and family
*Herbie Ziskend, Staff Assistant to the Vice President’s Policy and Economic Advisors
*Reggie Love, Personal Aide to the President
*Lisa Kohnke, Deputy Director of Advance and Special Events for OPL-IGA
*Melissa Winter, Deputy Chief of Staff to the First Lady
*Dana Lewis, Personal Aide to the First Lady
*Samantha Tubman, Associate Social Secretary
Back in January he was rumored to be on the short list for Surgeon General. Dr. Whitaker has been seen golfing with Barack in Hawaii, visiting the White House on numerous occasions and the two were inseparable on the campaign trail. There is no telling what official position he would be filling if the Rezko ties hadn't have come into play, but there is still time to name him to some sort of czar position.
So 2 of the 3 people who helped cobble together this patient dumping scheme are now senior advisors to the president and are linked to helping Michelle Obama get her cushy gig at the University of Chicago Medical Center with a big assist from Dr Eric Whitaker who is Barack's close friend from his college days.
Oh yeah and Mr Axelrod suggested they drop or change the word urban.
So anyway the web that is Chicago crony politics continues and we are left to wonder who is going to ask the questions.
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