Resurrection Sunday

“LEADERLESS” … One of Barack Obama’s strongest new media
supporters during last year’s primary season slams him today
on its front page.

Resurrection Sunday… for the public option, that is. At least, that seems to be the most fitting label today when reading traditional journalists’ take on the public option. Dan Baltz:

The resurrection of the public option is the latest and one of the most surprising turns in the long battle over legislation to overhaul the nation’s health-care system. Under assault for months, and declared on life support repeatedly in recent weeks, the provision for a public insurance option is unexpectedly alive as House and Senate leaders prepare to send their bills to the floor. …

[...] On Friday, Pelosi signaled her receptivity to the opt-out approach as a possible compromise between the House and Senate, a sign that despite her advocacy for a robust public option she doesn’t want to jeopardize reelection prospects for the moderate-conservative members of her caucus. Much negotiating and posturing lie ahead. Obama told Senate leaders late last week he still sees value in trying to keep Snowe in the coalition. But liberal Democrats will be unhappy if the Senate bill includes her trigger mechanism rather than something stronger. That will then test Democrats’ cohesiveness, and Obama’s leadership and persuasiveness. That battle could be weeks away. The fact that the House and Senate now appear likely to receive health-care bills with a public-option provision is surprise enough.

Take a bow, folks. This is all because of YOU.

Meanwhile, Tom Ricks is likely saying I told you so, as a bomb wounds at least 500 in Iraq, with “scores” being reported dead, the last total over 100.

On Afghanistan, Karzai rules out power sharing. Also, Bill Roggio, writing for the Weekly Standard on this one, picks out one section of the article I also cited, emphasizing Biden’s staff writing a counterterrorism plan because the Pentagon didn’t want to.

And for the record, if Virginia Democrats are “irate” at the Obama White House for calling Deeds out, they should consider picking a better candidate next time. I wrote about this days ago, as did others in new media.

Switching subjects, I’ve long been harping on women’s absence on the Sunday shows, my main target the late Tim Russert who when talking about subjects like family, faith and abortion rarely if ever had women on. A favorite guest of Russert’s in fact was Richard Land, a man who today is making news because he refuses to quit using Nazi references when speaking about Democrats. Having women on Sunday shows is important as it’s the news setting day for the next week. Talking about substantive issues without women taking a role marginalizes the majority voters, which happen to be women.

So, on that note, let’s take a look at our culture and what’s happening to women in film. The Washington Post has an interesting piece up today featuring Hillary Swank and “Amelia”, the story of the pioneerng aviatrix, opened last week.

To cries of “I call sexism!” most insiders agree that it’s more complicated than that. “I don’t think it’s sexism,” says writer-director Rod Lurie, whose films “The Contender” and “Nothing but the Truth,” as well as the television series “Commander in Chief,” all featured strong female leads. “Because Hollywood will do whatever it takes to make money. They are not taking a principled stance against women. They just don’t see the audience as going there.

“I’ll tell you something,” Lurie continues. “When we were researching ‘Commander in Chief,’ which was about the first woman president, we found that men supported [the idea of] a woman for president more than women did. Women’s top priority was security, and they felt more comfortable with a man for that reason. Women are the predominant buyers of tickets at movies, but they don’t seem to support in any great strength going to see ‘The Brave One’ or ‘Duplicity’ or ‘Changeling.’ ” (The failure of “Duplicity,” the Julia Roberts caper comedy that came out earlier this year, is often mentioned as yet another death knell for meaty women’s roles.)

And boy did this one story catch my eye, darn near giving me whiplash. Netanyahu taunts Pres. Obama:

What do you think should happen with the Palestinians?

We just wasted six months because of the Palestinian effort to place preconditions on the negotiations — preconditions that weren’t there for the last 16 years.

Is that freezing the settlements?

It’s freezing the settlements, it’s committing in advance to the results of the negotiations.

It’s committing to the outcome basically?

Yes, it’s the old technique. Let’s agree on what the results of the negotiations will be before the negotiations begin.

Didn’t the U.S. get the Palestinians’ hopes up by saying there should be a settlement freeze?

I think the Palestinians have to recognize [that] Washington says there should be negotiations without preconditions.

Absolutely pure nonsense from Netanyahu, who is obviously trying to reset reality. In fact, Mr. Netanyahu is rebuffing Pres. Obama on an issue that the President addressed to his face and in front of press, which was blasted around the world. This past May:

Now, Israel is going to have to take some difficult steps as well, and I shared with the Prime Minister the fact that under the roadmap and under Annapolis that there’s a clear understanding that we have to make progress on settlements. Settlements have to be stopped in order for us to move forward. That’s a difficult issue. I recognize that, but it’s an important one and it has to be addressed.

Also see MJ Rosenberg on this one, who is now at Media Matters.

Now, I realize Obama has agreed to “natural growth,” which unfortunately Bibi interpreted as a signal to start over. The other issue is the Goldstone report, which has obviously given new energy to Netanyahu’s worst instincts.

There is a lot of other news today, so feel free to post what you’re reading “In the News.” Diaries and rants encouraged. For you die hard political junkies, read about Obama’s DNC gear up @ Politico. …and TO ADD, for you culture buffs, Hugh Heffner reflects is a good read about a man who changed the culture of this country, I would say for the better.

Deer passing through.

As for the pictures, it’s hard to get a decent shot in a torrential downpour, but this is what it looks like around here right now. It’s the first full fall I’ve seen in two decades and I’m loving it. In fact, today as my husband and I chatted in my office, at one point he yelped “Deer! … Look! In the front yard!” A mother and her fawn, likely born last spring, came traipsing across our lawn. A beautiful sight, something my husband, a long-term desert rat, never thought possible. Oh, how we love Virginia.