White House reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg teamed with education reporter Diana Jean Schemo for Wednesday's "Bush Prodding [1]Congress to Reauthorize His Education Law [1]," on Bush fights for renewal of his No Child Left Behind education reform. But the story began like an editorial.
"With his domestic agenda in tatters, President Bush tried Tuesday to prod Congress into reauthorizing his biggest domestic achievement, the 2001 No Child Left Behind education law. But lawmakers have yet to come to terms on the legislation, and prospects for a deal this year appear dim.
"Mr. Bush invited civil rights leaders, who are among the bill's staunchest backers, to a meeting in the White House Roosevelt Room on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the prospects for renewal. Then, in a bit of theater designed to pressure lawmakers - especially Democrats, for whom civil rights advocates are a core constituency - the president took his guests into the Rose Garden, where he issued a public call for Congress to act."
Stolberg used the same [2]phrase [2]in a story on Bush July 11:
"With the 2008 presidential campaign in full swing, Democrats running Congress and his domestic agenda in tatters after the defeat of his immigration bill, Mr. Bush is confronting the fact that he can no longer drive the news agenda as he once could."