Over the weekend, representatives of the Obama administration started signaling that various aspects of proposals to reform health care may be more negotiable than previously expected. Teddy Roosevelt first inserted national health coverage as a party plank 97 years ago, in 1912 – as the debate grinds on in D.C., on the air, and across the country, is it "déjà vu all over again?"

In a town hall debate symbolically held in Grand Junction, Colorado, the President gave signs that the public option, previously cited as a critical piece of any reform of the health care system, may not be an absolute deal breaker. We talk to Julie Mason, White House reporter for the Washington Examiner and Dr. Michael Pramenko, a family physician in Grand Junction.

It's back to school time, which means that while parents head to stores to outfit their kids for a new school year, schools need to refresh their supplies as well. Some economists say that the recession is easing, but both schools and parents are still feeling the financial squeeze. With us today to talk about how the retail market is doing is Louise Story, finance reporter for The New York Times, along with friend of The Takeaway Mary Elizabeth Williams, culture critic for Salon.com.

On the agenda this week: The Takeaway talks about how President Obama may be backing away from absolutely requiring a public health care option, just before he and his family head off to a Martha's Vineyard getaway. We also talk about Senator Jim Webb (D-Va), just returned from a historic diplomatic trip to Myanmar, and Thursday's presidential election in Afghanistan. The Takeaway is joined by Chris Hayes, Washington editor for The Nation, and Rob Watson, diplomatic correspondent for our partners, the BBC.

In the 12th IAAF World Championships in Berlin yesterday, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt left American Tyson Gay in his dust as Bolt broke his own world record, running the 100m in 9.58 seconds. And in golf, South Korean Y. E. Yang won the PGA championship, besting Tiger Woods by three strokes and becoming the first Asian-born player to win a major in golf. Sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin recounts the weekend's sports dramas.

Watch a video of Y.E. Yang golfing:

On Thursday, Afghanistan's voters go to the polls to vote in the country's presidential election... and on Afghan television, political satire is dominating the airwaves. Jahid Mohseni, CEO of TOLO TV and producer of the satirical news show "Danger Bell," tells us how entertainment shows are driving political discourse this year.

President Obama stops in Phoenix today to address the annual convention for Veterans of Foreign Wars. Washington Examiner reporter Julie Mason gives us a preview of what they can expect to hear from the president. The Takeaway also speaks with Kristen Rouse, 1st Lieutenant in the Army National Guard and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, along with Bruce Smith, who served in Vietnam as a Naval Petty Officer.

Miles Davis’s seminal jazz album, “Kind of Blue,” turns 50 today. Davis, along with John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, recorded the album – widely considered one of the greatest jazz albums in history – in early 1959, and released it on August 17th, 1959.

Joining The Takeaway to talk about the impact this album has had is WNYC’s Evening Music Host Terrance McKnight.

The Army is starting a new program to help improve the mental health and mental strength of its soldiers. Every one of the Army's 1.1 million soldiers will be required take part in this intensive training to improve emotional resiliency. Programs similar to this have been used in schools for the past fifteen years, but can a program used on children work on our troops? Joining us is Karen Reivich, co-director of the Penn Resiliency Project and a research associate in thePositive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, who put together this program. Also joining us is Ben Carey, science reporter for the New York Times.

For more, read Ben Carey's article, Mental Stress Training Is Planned for U.S. Soldiers , in the New York Times.

To sift through the rumors, hearsay, and falsehoods being spoken and shouted in the debate over health care reform, The Takeaway talks to Trudy Lieberman, director of the Health and Medicine Reporting Program at CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism and a longtime contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review.

We spoke earlier this morning about how Afghan residents are looking ahead to this Thursday's presidential elections. Dr. Dawer Nadi, born in Afghanistan and now living in Long Island, New York, is the president of the Afghan Peace Association. We spoke with Dr. Nadi about how members of the Afghan-U.S. diaspora are following the elections from afar.

President Obama arrives at Martha’s Vineyard next Sunday for a week-long vacation with his family. It’s not their first time vacationing on the island, but it is their first time as the Presidential family. Eric Leuning, correspondent for WGBH-service WCAI, talks about where the Obamas will be spending their vacation and how much goes into planning the trip.

High school sports are often viewed not only as a chance for kids to get exercise, but also to teach them how to be team players and team leaders. But some recent studies show that children whose parents and coaches push them hard to perform can sometimes wind up developing negative personality traits. For more, The Takeaway talks to Kate Dailey, who writes the "Human Condition" blog for Newsweek, Mark Hyman, author of the book "Until It Hurts: America's Obsession with Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids," and Takeaway Sports Contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin.

Ibrahim weighs in further with a story about his own father