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Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich claims that shortly after Barack Obama won his 2004 U.S. Senate race, Obama asked him to help secure a high-paying position for Michelle Obama at either Northwestern University or the University of Chicago Hospitals.Blagojevich says he made a phone call on her behalf and described it as a routine political favor.In 2005, Michelle Obama was promoted to vice president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals, earning $316,962 that year. The hospital receives substantial Medicare and Medicaid funding.Around that same period, the Obamas purchased a $1.65 million mansion in Chicago’s Kenwood/Hyde Park neighborhood.Blagojevich has also pointed to longtime Obama fundraiser Tony Rezko’s involvement in the property deal. On the same day the Obamas closed on the home, Rezko’s wife purchased the adjoining vacant lot for $625,000.The Obamas later bought a 10-foot section of that property from Rezko’s wife for $104,500 to expand their yard. Obama later called the arrangement a “boneheaded” mistake.Rezko, a major Obama fundraiser, was later convicted on federal corruption charges connected to pay-to-play schemes in Illinois and served more than eight years in prison.Blagojevich claims Obama distanced himself from Rezko once the investigations began, offered him no support, and benefited from media outlets downplaying their connections.In a recent interview, Blagojevich gave this blunt assessment of Obama:“I thought Obama was all right, you know. Kind of cold and impersonal, but okay, and I was happy to be helpful. But he’s one of the more selfish people in politics on a one-on-one level, and he’s not pure like the driven snow in the sense of his ethics or morality.”