You make your choices, so grow up

Here's Hugh Hewitt's latest Townhall.com commentary:

In recent weeks Michelle Obama has been speaking about the burdens of student loans on new college graduates. While it is true that some students emerge from their undergraduate and graduate years with a large pile of debt, many do not, and many more have gone about the business of paying off their loans over the many years with the generous terms provided them. Nobody likes paying off loans, but doing so is a responsibility and one an adult shoulders without begrudging the effort.

We thus wonder if Mrs. Obama is doing good or mischief by suggesting that debt somehow wrongfully limits choices. Debt is itself a choice and as difficult as it is to pay back large loans, the borrower should not be bitter about the burden he or she accepted. Encouraging resentment over responsibility is not leadership. The attention the Obamas are receiving from young voters gives them a unique opportunity to model responsibility, not resentment.

I first heard Ms. Obama's weepy rhetoric in regards to student loans and the so-called "wage-slavery" problem on Hugh's show a few weeks ago. My first reaction was why not attack the root, i.e., high tuition costs? The fact is government backs these loans and that's one of the main reasons tuition is high. Another reason is the endless pimping of college as the key to success, thereby greatly inflating the demand. Sure, if you don't drop out. And here's a stupid question: do you think the Obamas favor decreasing the role of government in the financing of higher education or expanding it?

I think that in sticking with this constant playing of the resentment card, usually dealt by the distaff side of his campaign, the Obamas are treading in dangerous waters. The concept of America as a land of opportunity does not mean that everybody is going to have the same opportunities that everybody else possesses. Resentment about the lack of natural talents or circumstances of birth only leads to further resentments whereas acceptance of these circumstances added to determination, sound judgement and elbow grease is what generally leads to accomplishment.