Obama’s Identity Crisis

As Obama Plans To Jump From University To University This Week, Would Today’s Obama Recognize The Old Obama?

OBAMA IS DOING A COLLEGE TOUR THIS WEEK TO RECAPTURE HIS APPEAL TO YOUNG ADULTS

This Week, Obama Will Be Taking A Taxpayer Funded Trip To Several College Campuses In An Effort To Rein In The Youth Vote. “President Barack Obama will take a two-day, three-state trip this week to visit college campuses and talk about student loan interest rates. The trip is billed as an official one, paid for by taxpayers. But the Obama campaign is also capitalizing on the trip, touting the president’s student-loan message and drawing contrasts with Mitt Romney.” (Donovan Slack, “Campaign Capitalizes On Official Trip,” Politico, 4/23/12)

• “Obama’s Daunting Task: Bring Back The Youth Vote.” “Obama is launching a campus blitz this Tuesday at the University of North Carolina to highlight legislation the White House is pushing that would prevent interest rates on subsidized student loans from doubling to 6.8 percent.” (Benjy Sarlin, “Obama’s Daunting Task: Bring Back The Youth Vote,” Talking Points Memo, 4/23/12)

OBAMA IS ADDRESSING STUDENT LOANS WHILE DEBT LOADS ARE AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH

Under Obama’s Watch, Average Student Loan Debt Has Surpassed $25,000. “Average student loan debt recently topped $25,000, up 25 percent in 10 years. And the mushrooming debt has direct implications for taxpayers, since 8 in 10 of these loans are government-issued or guaranteed.” (Tom Raum, “Recovery Threatened By Runaway Student Loan Debt,” The Associated Press, 4/3/12)

• Student Debt Is About $25,000 Per Person, “The Highest Level Of Student Debt In American History.” “Nationally, the average student debt is about $25,000 per person, according to 2010 figures, the latest reported by the Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS). That’s the highest level of student debt in American history, up nearly 43 percent since 1996, in today’s dollars.” (Alfred Lubrano, “Highly Educated, Deeply In Debt,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/14/12)
• “The Rising Cost Of A College Education And The Failure Of Federal Grants To Keep Pace Has Led To Average Student Loan Debt Hitting An All-Time High.” (Tim Grant, “Education’s Cost Crisis,” Pittsburg Post-Gazette, 11/15/11)

Student Loan Debt Amongst College Seniors Is Up 5 Percent. “College seniors who graduated with student loans individually owed an average of $25,250, up 5 percent from the previous year, according to a study by Brewer’s group.” (Eric Plainin, “Student Loans Seen As Potential ‘Next Debt Bomb,’ For U.S. Economy,” The Washington Post, 3/10/12)

• Experts And U.S. Officials Agree That Students Are Taking Longer To Reach Important Life “Milestones” As They Continue To Rack Up Student Loan Debt.” “But as more people go to college and assume bigger loans for education, they may take longer than previous generations to hit key milestones such as buying a house or getting married, U.S. officials and economists say. It could take longer for heavily indebted graduates to save money for a down payment on a home, or it could be harder for them to qualify for mortgages.” (Josh Mitchell And Maya Jackson-Randall, “Student-Loan Debt Tops $1 Trillion,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/22/12)

BUT HOW DID SENATOR OBAMA VOTE ON THE BILL HE IS ATTACKING REPUBLICANS ON TODAY

As Obama Traverses The Country This Week Blaming Republicans For The Looming Student Loan Interest Rate Hikes, Obama’s Democrat Colleagues In The Congress Are To Blame. “Obama blames Republicans for voting against new ways to make college more affordable for middle-class families. But it was House Democrats who cut interest rates on the school loans in 2007 and included an expiration provision that placed the looming increase in the middle of an election year.” (Jim Kuhnhenn, “Obama Wooing Young Voters With Student Loan Focus,” The Associated Press, 4/21/12)

• Democrats “Led The Crafting Of A Law That Left The Rates To Double In 2012.” “Congress voted in 2007 to drop the rate in half over four years. Now the looming expiration is an election-year issue. It was Obama’s fellow Democrats in the House, however, who led the crafting of a law that left the rates to double in 2012. Republican President George W. Bush signed the deal into law after it was approved by bipartisan but Democratic-heavy majorities in both chambers.” (Ben Feller And Kimberly Hefling, “Big Colleges, Swing States: Obama Makes His Pitch,” The Associated Press, 4/20/12)

On July 20, 2007, The College Cost Reduction And Access Act (H.R. 2669) Passed The United States Senate 79-12, With Obama “Not Voting.” (H.R. 2669, “Roll Call Vote #272”: Passed 79-12: D 48-0; R 29-18; I 1-0, 7/20/07, Obama Missed Vote)

On September 7, 2007, The Conference Report Was Agreed To In The Senate 79-12, With Obama “Not Voting.” (H.R. 2669, “Roll Call Vote #326”: Passed 79-12: D 44-0; R 34-12; I 1-0, 9/7/07, Obama Missed Vote)

So Why Did Obama Miss This Vote … Twice?

On July 20, 2007, Obama Was On The Campaign Trail While His Colleagues In The Senate Voted To Pass The College Cost Reduction And Access Act. “About 500 people huddled under tents in rain-soaked Sunapee Harbor yesterday for a chance to have some ice cream with Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.” (Kristen Senz, “500 Gather In Sunapee To Meet Sen. Obama,” The Union Leader, 7/20/07)

• Obama Preferred To Speak About Education On The Campaign Trail Rather Than Vote On Education In The Capitol. “On the subject of education, Obama called for increased investment in early childhood education and teachers, and said taxpayers could save $5 billion annually by eliminating the lobbyists and other middlemen in the student loan industry.” (Kristen Senz, “500 Gather In Sunapee To Meet Sen. Obama,” The Union Leader, 7/20/07)

On September 7, 2007, Obama Was On The Campaign Trail In San Francisco As He Missed Another Vote To Approve The Conference Report Of The College Cost Reduction And Access Act. “Sen. Barack Obama’s appearance in San Francisco today is designed to attack a key strength of his prime rival for the Democratic presidential nomination: former first lady and current New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s support from women of all backgrounds.” (Carla Marinucci, “In S.F., Obama Aims Salvo At Clinton’s Strength – Women,” The San Francisco Chronicle, 9/7/07)

While Obama Was On The Campaign Trail, Hillary Clinton Found Time To Vote For The College Cost Reduction And Access Act. (H.R. 2669, “Roll Call Vote #272”: Passed 79-12: D 48-0; R 29-18; I 1-0, 7/20/07, Clinton Vote Yea)

RECENT GRADUATES AREN’T DOING WELL IN OBAMA’S ECONOMY

53.6 Percent Of Young Americans With A College Degree Are “Jobless Or Underemployed,” The Highest Number Since 2001. “About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor’s degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields.” (Hope Yen, “1 In 2 New Graduates Are Jobless Or Underemployed,” The Associated Press, 4/23/12)

• The Number Of College Degree Holders Who Are Underemployed Has Increased Under Obama. “Out of the 1.5 million who languished in the job market, about half were underemployed, an increase from the previous year.” (Hope Yen, “1 In 2 New Graduates Are Jobless Or Underemployed,” The Associated Press, 4/23/12)

“The College Class Of 2012 Is In For A Rude Welcome To The World Of Work.” (Hope Yen, “1 In 2 New Graduates Are Jobless Or Underemployed,” The Associated Press, 4/23/12)

“Young Adults With Bachelor’s Degrees Are Increasingly Scraping By In Lower-Wage Jobs.” “A weak labor market already has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don’t fully use their skills and knowledge. Young adults with bachelor’s degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs – waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example – and that’s confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans.” (Hope Yen, “1 In 2 New Graduates Are Jobless Or Underemployed,” The Associated Press, 4/23/12)

When Today’s Graduates Find A Job, They Will Earn 9 Percent Less. “If history is a guide, when today’s young graduates do find a job, they will earn 9% less on average than if they had finished college in better times, according to a recent Columbia University study. The worst-off graduates may be those from the classes of 2008 and 2009, according to Yale School of Management economist Lisa Kahn.” (Joe Light and Lauren Weber, “Generation Jobless: For Those Under 24, A Portrait In Crisis,” The Wall Street Journal , 11/7/11)