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.

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.

This afternoon, President Barack Obama will present 16 people with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is the highest honor that can be awarded to a civilian. Among this year's honorees are Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Stephen Hawking, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, tennis legend Billie Jean King, and retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Also receiving a medal tonight is Ambassador Nancy Goodman Brinker, founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the largest breast cancer awareness organization in the world. She has just been appointed as the first "Cancer Ambassador" to the World Health Organization and she tells about her work and the award.

Want to watch the awards ceremony? The ceremony with President Barack Obama will begin at 2 p.m. central time and be carried on a live stream at whitehouse.gov.

For a full list of recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, click through.

The Obama administration has created, by one count, 21 "czars"—a pay czar, a car czar, a health reform czar, an urban czar. Joining The Takeaway is Shirley Anne Warshaw, presidential scholar and author of “The Co-Presidency of Bush and Cheney”; she explains what this proliferation says about President Obama's leadership style.

Democrats are re-tooling President Obama’s budget this week, while the president is pressing Congress hard to preserve his priorities of health care, energy and education. Meanwhile, Republicans are in an uproar over and even some Democrats are pushing back on some of Obama's $3.6 trillion budget. For more, we talk to our friend Todd Zwillich from Capitol News Connection.

Congress has passed a measure that would allow bankruptcy judges to change the terms of mortgages to help strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure. Supporters say it will keep people in their homes while the banking industry says it will prompt lenders to raise rates across the board. University of Iowa Law Professor Katie Porter, a specialist on bankruptcy and mortgages, and her father Daniel Porter, vice president of Kerndt Brothers Savings Bank in Lansing, Iowa, join The Takeaway with an analysis.

Today President Obama will lift restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research imposed by the Bush Administration. Dr. George Daley, Associate Director of the Stem Cell Program at Children’s Hospital in Boston, will discuss what the change in policy will mean for the future of this promising area of medicine.

Today President Obama is set to officially announce Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as his choice to head up the Department of Health and Human Services. Secretary of State Clinton is on her way to the Middle East, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will visit Washington. The Daily Beast's Ana Marie Cox and Jonathan Marcus of the BBC join John with a look at these and other events of the week ahead.

The Obama administration's budget plan asks Congress to raise taxes on the wealthy to help stem the flood of red ink. One of the strategies to increase tax revenue is a cap on the rate that high-income taxpayers can use to claim charitable deductions. This is part of a plan to finance changes to the country’s health-care system. That news is sending shudders through the nonprofit and philanthropic world. Joining us this morning is Peter Panepento, a web editor with the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and Matthew Bishop from The Economist and author of Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich Can Save the World joins us from Barcelona.

There was more upheaval in the formation of President Obama's cabinet yesterday when New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, a Republican, withdrew his nomination to be commerce secretary. The Senator cited "irresolvable conflicts" on the stimulus and the census as reasons for his withdrawal. Josh Rogers, reporter for New Hampshire Public Radio, analyzes this latest glitch in the President's efforts to be bipartisan.

For a look at who is in the President's cabinet, check out our handy guide.

It was a rough week for President Obama. He lost the candidates he had nominated for two important jobs in his administration and didn't achieve the bipartisan consensus he wanted on the stimulus bill. Takeaway Correspondent Andrea Bernstein and Todd Zwillich, Reporter for Capitol News Connection, join Adaora and John to take a look back at the second full week of the Obama presidency.

Yesterday House Republican leaders met with President Obama to voice their objections to his stimulus plan. Representative Kevin Brady of Texas' 8th Congressional District was there. He joins John and Adaora with a report on what happened in the meeting, what his hopes are for bipartisan compromise, and what's next for the bill.

For President Obama's take on the meeting, here's his post-meeting press conference:

Surprising new research suggests President Barack Obama has had a profoundly positive effect on African-Americans who view him as a role model. Why is this surprising? Because it is increasing their scores on tests. The Takeaway talks to Ray Friedman, a management professor at Vanderbilt University, who has tried to measure the effects of role models like Obama on African-Americans.

As the bank bailout effort continues, the Obama administration has to address the question of how far to take the rescue plan. Can you say "bank nationalization''? The Takeaway talks to the New York Times' Chief Washington Correspondent David Sanger to give us an outline for the debate and what taxpayers would get.

For a deeper analysis, read David Sanger's article, Nationalization Gets a New, Serious Look, in today's New York Times.

Want to craft your own economic stimulus plan? Start here.