Obama stresses own struggle with loans on youth-focused trip

(Reuters) - Describing his own struggle to pay off college debt and taking another dig at his likely White House rival's wealth, President Barack Obama sought on Tuesday to expand his popularity among young voters with a call to make education more affordable.

During a multi-state trip to highlight rising education costs, a key theme of his re-election campaign, Obama said he knew firsthand how paying for university could hurt families and ding the economy.

In the "nonpartisan" media -- and not just the MSM -- but entertainment media, wherever these tales are told they influence apolitical voters. Those voters will never know any negative facts about Obama.

Independents are the largest portion of voters, outnumbering either Democrats or Republicans.

I am not talking about this "dealignment trend" and the emergence of what Russell Dalton called the Apartisan American. That is the independent voter. The impact of apartisans is critical to the 2012 election and the future. But I am talking about his fourth category.

Dalton id'd four categories. The first two have greater political savvy and "are best viewed as either cognitive partisans or apartisans, depending upon partisan attachments." I understand apartisan to mean that they pay attention but they do not ID with a political party.

A third category has lower interest and skills and is categorized as ritual partisans. That kind used to vote for everyone in the Party with just one mark. That's the way I interpret it.

He's not who I mean either.

Here's the "dummy" I am talking about. The apolitical independent.

The others will be too savvy to be swayed by "nonpartisan" media no matter how hard "nonpartisan" media try. They will have knowledge of the other issues vis-a-vis Obama and will not be controlled by the "nonpartisan" media.

In a close election the impact of these cute stories on apolitical independents could give the election to Obama and the Democrats. No doubt in my mind that there are way more "nonpartisan" media that favor the Left than favor the Right.

The opinions about Obama, Democrats, and Republicans are mine.

The Apartisan American: Dealignment and Changing Electoral Politics Russell J Dalton.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.