Ethics

According to the New York Times,

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/us/politics/21obama.html

The White House Office of Political Affairs (OPA) staff spend much of their time, and encourage other political appointees to spend much of their time, on partisan political work for the President's political party.  This office has been a source of trouble for several administrations:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/opinion/14painter.html

Under the new arrangement, the people who used to work for OPA -- and other White House staff members who have been actively involved in political campaigns -- will be employees of the President's reelection campaign or of the Democratic National Committee.  They will not work for the White House or any other part of the government.  It remains to be seen if White House staff who remain will still participate in partisan political activity (they probably will), but they probably will not participate in as much partisan political activity as when OPA was in the White House and staffed by White House employees.  There will no doubt be plenty of contact between the White House and the political people in Chicago, but the fact that they are not government employees and are not in the White House should make a difference. 

The President has made a courageous decision, apparently against the advice of some political strategists who would like to keep OPA in the White House.  Lets hope this new arrangement works better than what has been done in the past.