President Barack Obama really thinks recent graduates are stupid. Seriously, he thinks that graduates out there suffering under crushing debt obligations in an economy where there aren't enough jobs to go around are so dumb that they don't even know what they want.
Educational debt has been a big part of the Occupy Wall Street protests. Today, President Obama will announce "new" programs to help students in debt. At least, he wants the media to report these programs as "new." Those who have been paying attention, such as debt-saddled law students, will recognize that there is very little "new" about these programs.
In fact, Obama seems to honestly think that students and recent graduates wouldn't be so angry if they knew about all the programs already in place.
It's all a bit patronizing. If the Obama administration had really been paying attention, they'd know that recent graduates want meaningful reform, not the piecemeal incremental efforts that we've seen so far….
I wanted to wait until Obama actually made his speech today before I wrote about it, but way too many people are running around touting Obama's "new" program as if the president suddenly remembered that young people propelled him into office.
Look, nobody wants Obama to do something to help ameliorate student debts than I do. I've beenpushing this for years. So I can tell you that Obama's plans today represent no change from how the administration has handled this issue since the beginning of the recession.
Here are the details Obama is expected to talk about later today, according to the New York Times:
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