5/20 Op-Ed Round-Up

Here's some interesting opinion pieces from the New York Times and the Washington Post.

• David Ignatius of the Post looks at President Obama's recent meeting with PM Netanyahu and concludes that Obama has decided that he is secure enough to ignore the usual rules governing US-Israel relations and "up the ante," pushing the conservative PM to accept a two-state solution.
• Dan Froomkin's White House Watch looks at yesterday's emissions-regulation announcement and concludes that such a bipartisan effort is the kind of thing that makes it worth being president.
• Kathleen Parker's "Steele, but No Magnet" takes a look at the current troubles of the Republican Party, and whether Michael Steele is the right man to lead them.
• Ed Gillespie, who was a counselor to former President Bush and participated actively in the confirmation efforts of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, speculates on the philosophy Senate Republicans will use to judge Obama's nominee.
• Doctors Andrea Meyerhoff and Paul Lietman discuss the upside of the swine flu epidemic: the chance to learn more about how to stop and deal with all manner of diseases.
• Former Ambassador to the (fmr) Soviet Union Stephen Sestanovich discusses Obama's need to deal with an act of Congress that ranks as a Cold War relic, in order to further normalize relations with Russia.