The Obama campaign is using one of Mitt Romney's many memorable moments of clueless entitlement in an ad aimed at students and their parents concerned about paying for college. And what a moment. Yes, the Republican presidential nominee really did tell college students to "Take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents," and the Obama campaign puts that statement on a loop, contrasting it with Barack Obama's actions to expand student aid and lower interest rates.
Actually, this ad is, if anything, a little generous to Romney: He was telling students to borrow money from their parents to start a business, and cited a friend who'd borrowed $20,000 from his own parents. In other words, Romney was assuming that not only are parents able to pay for their kids to go to college, but then have $20,000 lying around to put into a start-up. People who struggle to pay for college, who take on a lifetime of debt just praying they'll be able to find a job that lets them make their loan payments? Those people aren't even real to Mitt Romney. No wonder Paul Ryan's budget slashing aid for millions of students seemed "marvelous" to Romney (at least until he picked Ryan as his running mate and realized he now owned all that marvelousness).
But regardless, this ad makes it clear: If you're a young person, can your parents put you through college and then lend you $20,000 to start a business? If you're a parent, can you pay for all that? If so (and you don't care about people for whom it's not true), Romney's your guy. If not, well, there is this other guy running. He's the president of the United States, and he's pushed to make college more affordable.