Sad but True

I did not post about the earmark Obama requested when it was written about in National Review last year -- the information was interesting and noteworthy but was filed away for future reference. Heck, I disengaged from the campaign after John McCain won the nomination anyway. At that point the general election became "six of one, half-dozen of the other" (to borrow a southern expression) anyway. ...I digress... as usual.

The point is that the e-mail quoted below is making the rounds online and the information in it is fairly accurate. There are some facts that can be disputed (see this response on FactCheck.org) but the gist of the email is dead on.

At the top right hand corner of Page 17 of the New York Post of January 24th, 2009, was a short column entitled "Replacing Michelle" in the National Review’s "The Week" column. Here it is, word for word, as it appeared:

'Some employees are simply irreplaceable. Take Michelle Obama: The University of
Chicago Medical center hired her in 2002 to run "programs for community relations, neighborhood outreach, volunteer recruitment, staff diversity and minority contracting."

In 2005, the hospital raised her salary from $120,000 to $317, 000, nearly twice what her husband made as a senator.

Oh, did we mention that her husband had just become a US senator? He sure had. And that he immediately requested a $1 million earmark for the UC Medical Center, in fact? You betcha, by golly! He surely did. Way to network Michelle!

But now that Mrs. Obama has resigned, the hospital says her position will remain unfilled. How can that possibly be? Especially if the work she did was vital enough to be worth $317,000?

Oh, by the way, let me add that Michelle's position was a part time, 20-hour-a-week job at $317,000.00 per year! And to think they were critical of Blagoyovich's [sic] wife for taking $100,000 in fuzzy real estate commission.

The real question is: How did this bit of quid pro quo corruption escape the sharp reporters that dug through Sarah Palin's garbage and kindergarten files?'

Folks, I wasn't surprised by this. Are you? Chicago politics has been notoriously corrupt for decades now and most of us realize that, regardless of party, there are an awful lot of palms that get greased from Federal election winners after elections are won. It's a sad statement to make. It's an even sadder statement when ignored.