My wife nearly spit up her milk when Tom Daschle said:
Education is the second key to our "opportunity society." Two years ago, the president signed a new education law. The heart of that law was a promise: The federal government would set high standards for every student, and hold schools responsible for results. In exchange, schools would receive the resources to meet the new standards. America's schools are holding up their end of the bargain; the president has not held up his. Millions of children are being denied the better teachers, smaller classes and extra help they were promised.
Fortunately, we have Time Warner Cable DVR service, so we could pause and rewind and discuss all the speeches at will. After rewinding and listening to this passage again to make sure that that was indeed what he had said, my wife astutely pointed out that if, as Daschle claims, "schools are holding up their end of the bargain," which presumably means that the schools are already beginning to meet the higher standards, then there is nothing for Daschle to complain about! If the schools are meeting the higher standards without more federal money and resources, that's a good thing. The goal of No Child Left Behind is not (or should not be) increased funding for the sake of funding!