Everyone happy? Everyone cool with the theory that John McCain trying to funnel a million dollars of federal money to his wife’s business in the same year she got a massive raise would be media-kosher so long as she, herself, didn’t personally ask him for it — which of course no one could ever prove or disprove?

Great, let’s get some lunch.

Kelly M. Sullivan, the medical center’s vice president for communications and marketing, noted that Mr. Obama had also requested money for a number of other hospitals in Illinois, and she said any lobbying for the money had been handled by the hospital’s government-affairs officials.

“I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that Michelle Obama was not part of our lobbying over the request, not in any way,” Ms. Sullivan said. She said the hospital’s lobbyists often seek help on their own from both of the state’s senators.

In other cases, Mr. Obama’s requests benefited political supporters.

Follow the link for details about those political supporters, to whom hope, change, and buckets of premium grade D.C. pork were duly delivered emblazoned with the “new type of politics” seal of quality. Exit question: Why would a guy burned by the appearance of impropriety in his dealings with Tony Rezko, to the point where he felt obliged to apologize for them, think earmarking money for his wife’s school was a swift idea?