Although the White House says that President Barack Obama’s visit to UNC Tuesday is not driven by political motives, some say this tour is a re-election campaign in disguise.
In addition to visiting UNC, the president will travel to the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Iowa on April 24 and 25 to discuss an impending increase in student loan interest. During Obama’s time in Chapel Hill, he will film a segment for late-night comedian Jimmy Fallon’s show in a likely effort to reach even more young people. The segment will air Tuesday night.
Obama will speak about a 2007 provision, set to expire July 1, that halved subsidized Stafford student loans. If Congress does not extend the cut, interest rates on those loans will increase from 3.4 to 6.8 percent. Read more about which loans will and will not be affected.
White House Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a press briefing that the purpose of the tour is to call on Congress to prolong the provision by at least one year and has nothing to do with the coming election.
“I could care less about politics and ideology,” he said. “This is about we need an educated workforce. And it’s fascinating to me that in a really tough economic time like this, we have 2 million high-wage, high-skilled jobs that are unfilled because we’re not producing the employees with the skills that employers are looking for.”
Skeptics, though, said that the tour is part of the president’s re-election strategy. Ben Feller, writing for the Associated Press, offered this take on the visit:
His clear political mission: rallying young voters whose support he needs again.
Obama’s trip next week will take him to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Iowa. All three provide him potentially giant audiences in states he carried in 2008 and ones that are key to his re-election prospects against presumptive opponent Mitt Romney.
All three schools are large, public universities in battleground states. President Obama won all three states in 2008. His success in each was largely dependent on young voters, particularly in Colorado and North Carolina. Obama carried North Carolina by less than 15,000 votes, winning nearly three-quarters of voters in the 18-29 age group.
Each of the three universities is located in a county where more than 70 percent of voters voted for Obama in 2008. In neither North Carolina, Colorado nor Iowa is there a large university in another, more supportive voting district.
Ferrel Guillory, a professor in UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said he has no doubt this tour is a campaign strategy and even expects a rally after Tuesday’s speech. Guillory is also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Public Policy, has worked for North Carolina’s government and contributed to books on politics and government.
“This is not a primary visit,” he said. “This is a general election visit. We’ve reached the point in which the two main candidates are known.
“Part of the Obama presidential campaign strategy is to make another effort at voter mobilization among young voters.”
Guillory said there are three reasons why President Obama would come to North Carolina during this tour:
1. It’s part of a series of visits to a swing state.
2. His campaign depends largely on mobilizing young voters, and this is an issue that could get them stirred up.
3. Access to education is a critical issue, especially after state budget cuts.
This year, Obama has already traveled to schools in Michigan, Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire and Virginia – all reported to be swing states by 270towin.com.
