Obama: McCain Votes Against Affordable College Programs
TAYLOR, MI – John McCain is out of touch with people who struggle to pay for college, Barack Obama told a small group of students today during a town hall at a community college outside Detroit.
Obama argued that the Arizona senator cares more about helping big business than helping students pay for higher education.
"I do not accept an America where you can’t achieve your potential because you can’t afford it; where 2 million qualified students will pass up college this decade because they can’t afford it,” he said.
"Now, this isn’t an issue that you hear Sen. McCain talk about that much," he added. "Because when it comes to education, Sen. McCain, I believe, is out of touch with the situation of many hardworking Americans. It’s not just that he doesn’t have a real plan to make college affordable; it’s that he’s voted time and time again to stop us from making college affordable. A couple of years ago, he even voted against funding for students so he could protect billions of dollars in corporate tax loopholes. Well, that’s not the kind of change that people of Michigan are looking for. That’s not the kind of change that will strengthen our middle class or make America more competitive.”
Obama explained his plan to offer a $4,000 tax credit to help students pay for college in return for public service and to require the federal government to provide all federal student loans.
Painting a rival as out of touch with the concerns or beliefs of ordinary Americans is a common tactic. Obama has pointed to McCain’s tax proposals, which will benefit wealthy Americans most, as an example of his lack of understanding of the needs of middle class Americans, while McCain and the Republican Party have sought to portray the Illinois senator as a liberal elitist who doesn’t relate to everyday Americans because of his stance on issues like gun control, the rights of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and his opposition to a gas tax holiday.
Obama spent about 30 minutes talking with students about the challenges they are facing in paying their tuition.
Before the town hall, the senator met with Marilyn Pace, a student, and Marcus McGrew, a financial counselor at the school. According to our pool reporter, Pace said high gas prices had made paying for school more difficult and later began to cry. Obama counseled her, saying “You’re gonna be fine.”
(NBC/NJ's ATHENA JONES)
If Barak F. Obama is so interested in helping people afford college, why isn't railing against why it costs so much to go to college, not why the government won't pay for it. The cost of college is outreageous and there is no reasonable excuse why the costs continue to increase, outpacing the inflation rate. Meanwhile, collges are loaded with lazy professors who don't teach and trust funds continue to grow while greedy boards and Presidents refuse to touch the nest eggs that were meant to be spent. Here's a good idea. Parents should not have to pay for lazy professors who do unnecessary research, they should pay for professors who teach. If research is so important, let them get grants or ask the government to pay for it. If the costs of instruction were reflected in tuitions, the cost would be much more affordable. I suspect that much of the useless research that presently occurs would go away and those professors would be delighted to do what they were hired to do...teach.