- Sep 19, 2011
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President Obama misrepresented the position of Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx on college debt.
The president quoted Foxx as saying that she had very little tolerance for people who tell me they graduate with debt. But Foxx was speaking explicitly about those with very large amounts of debt, a fact that Obama omitted and that changes the meaning of the North Carolina congresswomans statement.
The sin of omission was in Obamas speech in Boulder, Colo., as the president pushed for the extension of current federal student loan interest rates.
The presidents remarks suggest that any college student who graduates with debt is intolerable to Foxx, but thats not accurate.
She explicitly mentions only students with very high debt burdens above $80,000.
This is well above the average level of college debt even at the most expensive universities.
What she said:
"I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because theres no reason for that. We live in an opportunity society and people are forgetting that. I remind folks all the time that the Declaration of Independence says life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You dont sit on your butt and have it dumped in your lap."
The president quoted Foxx as saying that she had very little tolerance for people who tell me they graduate with debt. But Foxx was speaking explicitly about those with very large amounts of debt, a fact that Obama omitted and that changes the meaning of the North Carolina congresswomans statement.
The sin of omission was in Obamas speech in Boulder, Colo., as the president pushed for the extension of current federal student loan interest rates.
The presidents remarks suggest that any college student who graduates with debt is intolerable to Foxx, but thats not accurate.
She explicitly mentions only students with very high debt burdens above $80,000.
This is well above the average level of college debt even at the most expensive universities.
What she said:
"I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because theres no reason for that. We live in an opportunity society and people are forgetting that. I remind folks all the time that the Declaration of Independence says life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You dont sit on your butt and have it dumped in your lap."
