Michelle Obama's Axelrod Conflict

Michelle Obama, a vice president at the University of Chicago Medical Center, hired her husband's top political strategist David Axelrod and his firm ASK Public Strategies for work related with a hospital program called the Urban Health Initiative. As another coincidence, Obama adviser and friend Eric Whitaker is now in charge of the program. From the Sun-Times:

Obama's top political strategist, David Axelrod, co-owns the firm, ASK Public Strategies, that was hired by the hospital last year to sell the program -- called the Urban Health Initiative -- to the community as a better alternative for poor patients. Obama's wife and Valerie Jarrett, an Obama friend and adviser who chairs the medical center's board, backed the Axelrod firm's hiring, hospital officials said.

Another Obama adviser and close friend, Dr. Eric Whitaker, took over the Urban Health Initiative when he was hired at U. of C. in October 2007. Whitaker previously had been director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for the state job, giving his name to Tony Rezko, who helped Gov. Blagojevich assemble his Cabinet.

If these folks were Republicans, this is a huge scandal. But as it is, it's just business as usual.