By Joe Von Kanel
Writer/Copy Editor

This morning, President Obama announced a new campaign to promote math and science education in U.S. Schools. He also complained the announcement probably wouldn’t get much media coverage.

“Oftentimes events like this get short shrift,” the President told his audience, “They’re not what’s debated on cable. But this is probably going to make more of a difference in determining how well we do as a country than just about anything else that we do here”

The President also told a couple of stories about his recent trip to Asia: “I was having lunch with the President of South Korea. President Lee, and I was interested in education policy – they’ve grown enormously over the last 40 years.” Obama said President Lee told him, “The biggest challenge that I have is that my parents are too demanding. He said that even if somebody is dirt poor, they are insisting that their kids are getting the best education.” Obama continued, “He said that “I’ve had to import thousands of foreign teachers because they’re all insisting that Korean children have to learn English in elementary school.”

The President recounted a similar conversation in China with the mayor of Shanghai. “I asked him how he was doing recruiting teachers, given that they’ve got 25 million people in this one city. He said, ‘We don’t have problems recruiting teachers because teaching is so revered.’”

“And” Obama added, “the pay scales for teachers are actually comparable to doctors and other professionals.”

Obama lamented, “This doesn’t get a lot of focus. Not once was I asked about education policy during my trip."

By Roland S. Martin
CNN Political Contributor

Editor's note: A nationally syndicated columnist, Roland S. Martin is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith" and "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America." Visit his Web site for more information.

The great band Maze, featuring Frankie Beverly, has a hit song called “Joy and Pain.” In the lyrics, they sing that those two words are like “sunshine and rain.”

Surely the Democratic Party’s theme song today has to be joy and pain, especially when you consider the battle that pits the two most important issues of the Democratic Party against one another as we are seeing with the battle over abortion and the president’s most important domestic priority: Health care reform.

Just look beneath the political sparring and let’s admit that watching Democrats grapple with restrictions on abortion in a health care bill, thus possibly dooming it, is a masterstroke that Machiavelli would surely have loved.

When Sen. Ted Kennedy died earlier this year, we were often reminded how long he and other Democrats have fought for universal health care reform. It has been a staple of the Democratic Party’s platform for decades and all of its presidential candidates had to spend sufficient time advocating for it.

But then you turn to a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion or not and you will see an even more vigorous issue for most Democrats. Catholic Democrats have risked being slammed by the Catholic Church for their pro-choice views and the party has always counted on women to stand firmly behind them because they were willing to fight every Republican attempt to restrict a woman’s right to choose.

So when you have these two interests competing with one another, you have Democrats turning on one another and trying to maintain civility in the midst of the tears of those saying the restrictions on abortion in the House health care bill was unconscionable and those who say their conscience would not allow them to stand for federal dollars being used to pay for abortions.

The Stupak-Pitts amendment, which passed with more than 60 Democrats voting in favor, was the only way Speaker Nancy Pelosi could guarantee a health care win. If she hadn’t allowed it to be voted on, there is no way the conservative Democrats in her caucus would have voted for the overall bill. One way the Democrats were able to strengthen their numbers in the House in recent years was to recruit candidates who opposed abortion rights, a move that is coming back to haunt the Democratic leadership.

But now the battle moves to the Senate and already Catholic bishops, who flexed their muscle to get the Stupak-Pitts amendment included in the House bill, are saying that the abortion language in the Senate bill is considerably weaker.

And they surely won’t like to hear Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, who made it clear to me on my TV One Sunday morning show, “Washington Watch,” that no health care bill that will clear President Barack Obama’s desk will restrict a woman’s right to choose.

“We’re not going to compromise on a woman’s right to choose,” Sen Brown said. “This is a Democratic administration, Democratic House and Senate… I understand it was in the House but it’s coming out in the Senate. It’s not in the Senate version. It’s not going to be in the conference report.”

He later added, “The Senate will never pass a bill that has those restrictions. In the House, we’ll pass a bill without them, I’m convinced.”

While Brown may be matter-of-fact in his opposition, I’m not so convinced. Sen. Harry Reid will have 60 votes to prevent a filibuster of the health care bill. With 58 Democrats and two Independents, he has no wriggle room on this matter. If the Democrats wind up with three or four holdouts on this health care bill, we may very well look back and determine that the Trojan Horse that killed one of the most fundamental issues to the party was also one of its most cherished positions.

And not a single Republican would have to take a hit for its failure. That would all be on the Democrats.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland S. Martin.

Sir Harold Evans took on the British government nearly 40 years ago to show the world the devastating effects of thalidomide, a pill approved by the government that mothers took to avoid morning sickness, on children. Kids were born with deformed arms, legs, and even brain damage. All these years later, the British government announced it will offer cash settlements to the thalidomide victims. The thalidomide investigation is just one of the stories Sir Harold Evans tells in his new book "My Paper Chase: True Stories of Vanished Times."

We have the latest from the line cutting case at WalMart-the woman could face up to 15 years for cutting in line–what do you think about that?

Plus, more on Oprah leaving TV-what's next for her-do you think she should leave tv?

What are your thoughts?
1) Keep your comment short.
2) Use your real name (first name only is fine)
3) No links
4) No comments in uppercase. We don’t shout in the office.

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The U.S. Senate is spending all day today debating whether they want to debate health care reform. Republicans like Mitch McConnell are highlighting the bill's length and complexity.
McConnell said, "We've now had less than 48 hours to look through this 2,074 page bill."

Democrats such as Dick Durbin are focusing on what they call "abuses" by health insurance companies. Durban said, "We should not allow these health insurance companies to turn you down for a pre-existing condition just because you get sick."

The Senate Ethics Committee issued a letter admonishing Senator Roland Burris of Illinois - saying he should have known he was providing incorrect or misleading information about his appointment to fill Barack Obama's senate seat, but Burris won't face any legal action.

President Obama is back from his eight-day trip to Asia, but has no public events today.

By Liz Hayden and Richard Morris
Associate Producers

Bagging groceries is often an afterthought when you check out at the store.  However, many of us find out that it can make or break our shopping experience.  Who hasn’t gotten home to discover that a sloppy job of bagging left us with smashed bread, broken eggs, meat leaking on vegetables and other messy surprises?

However, there are a few elite baggers who take their jobs seriously enough to make a career out of it.  For these select few, there is a contest to recognize the best of the best. 

New York City recently hosted the third annual Metro NY Best Bagger Competition.  Twenty four of the top baggers faced off, aisle-to-aisle, to battle it out for the title. 

Despite what you might think, it isn’t just based on speed.  They were judged in several different areas, such as bag distribution, style, weight and speed. 

Since this was taped, the winner of the city title has gone on to win the State title and is now headed to Las Vegas to compete for the national title of 'Best Bagger.'

Who missed the warning signs before the fort hood massacre?
A firestorm of reciminations on Capitol Hill. So many red flags - shouldn't the Army have seen the threat? Or was there more too it than that?

In Afghanistan...Hamid Karzai sworn-in for a second term as President.
His government awash in corruption. Does he have a hand in it? But do his deeds match his words? Who really is this man...Our last best hope in Afghanistan?

And a bombshell announcement from the queen of all media. Oprah Winfrey is ending her talk show after 25 years. Why is she giving it all up? And what's her next act?

And, do security cameras really make us safer? You may be caught on camera dozens of times a day - and not even know it.

What are your thoughts?
1) Keep your comment short.
2) Use your real name (first name only is fine)
3) No links
4) No comments in uppercase. We don’t shout in the office.

Become a fan of Campbell on Facebook right now and follow Campbell on twitter.