New Obama ad: ‘Get real, Mitt’

A new ad from President Obama’s reelection campaign tells students — and their parents — that Mitt Romney would make it harder to pay for college and is out-of-touch with the average family’s costs.

A clip of Romney suggesting that students borrow money from their parents to pay for school plays twice, with the narrator adding at the end, “Get real, Mitt.”

In the video, taken from an April appearance at Otterbein University in Ohio, the former Massachusetts governor says, “Take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents.”

The narrator chimes in, “Hope they can afford it. Romney’s plans could cut college aid for nearly 10 million students and eliminate the tax deduction for college tuition.” President Obama, on the other hand, “eliminated bank middlemen from college loans and used the savings to double college grants.”

Obama and Romney actually agreed on extending low-interest rates for student loans. Last fall, Obama also used his executive authority to make changes in the federal loan program to make loans more affordable and easier to repay.

As for the accusations against Romney, note that the ad says “could,” not “would.” Romney has not called for these policies; the Obama campaign is making assumptions based on his tax plan and the policies of his running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Romney has said he would eliminate tax breaks and deductions to cover the cost of his tax cuts. He has not singled out college tuition, but a recent Tax Policy Center analysis concluded that education tax breaks would have to be cut to avoid increasing the deficit. Ryan has called from some cuts in federal student aid and would lower education spending over the next decade.

“Under President Obama, the costs of college have skyrocketed,” Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg responded. “Mitt Romney will encourage innovation and competition to make college more affordable, and his economic policies will give recent graduates the job opportunities they deserve.”

The ad is running in Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.