奥巴马8年前才还清助学贷款

President Barack Obama， courting young voters crucial to his reelection， told a rowdy collegeage crowd at the university of north Carolina at chapel hill on tuesday that he knows first-hand about the burden of student loans because he only managed to pay his back a scant eight years ago.

“Michelle and I， weve been in your shoes，” Obama， who turns 51 in august， told a cheering， capacity crowd of 8，000 at carmichael arena.

“Check this out， all right. Im the president of the united states. We only finished paying off our student loans off about eight years ago. That wasnt that long ago. And that wasnt easy—especially because when we had malia and sasha， were supposed to be saving up for their college educations， and were still paying off our college educations，” he said.

The presidents emphasis on his modest upbringing seemed designed to invite comparisons to presumptive republican nominee mitt romney. The white house has denied specifically targeting the multi-millionaire financier with such attacks even as the Obama campaign has pointedly attacked romneys personal finances.

Obamas stop in north carolina was the first on a two-day， campaign-style swing through battleground states to reengage young voters who powered his historic 2008 campaign but seem less enthused about the 2012 election. His chief policy message was an appeal for congress to pass legislation to stop interest rates on a popular student loan from doubling july 1 from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.

“We didnt come from wealthy families. When we graduated from college and law school we had a mountain of debt. When we married， we got poor together. We added up our assets and there were no assets. And we added up our liabilities and there were lot of liabilities—basically in the form of student loans，” Obama said of himself and Michelle Obama.

The president said he and his wife paid more on their student loans than they did on the mortgage on their condo during their first eight years of marriage.

The republican national committee and the romney campaign had struck preemptively at Obamas message even before he had left the beltway， holding conference calls to underscore young workers struggles in the three years since he took office.

“He forgot to mention that he failed to address student loans the past three and a half years and skipped a vote in the senate on the very same issue. In his speech he said，‘it requires not just words but deeds. We tend to agree，” rnc spokeswoman kristen kukowski said after the presidents speech.

美国总统巴拉克·奥巴马星期二造访北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校， 向年轻选民示意他们对于他的连任大选来说很重要。奥巴马坦言，他自己也亲身体验过助学贷款的负担，因为他自己是在8年前才还清助学贷款。

“米歇尔和我也经历过你们正在经历的压力。” 他在可容纳8，000人的卡米高竞技场向大家坦言道，今天8月奧巴马将迎来50岁生日。

“你们可能不太相信。虽然现在我是美国总统，但我们也是8年前才还清了助学贷款，并没有太久。还款这件事真是不容易，尤其是当我们有了女儿马莉亚和萨沙以后，我们本来应该为她们存出大学经费，而我们仍要偿还着我们读大学时的费用。”他说。

总统着重突出了他的平民出身，与共和党的总统候选人米特·罗姆尼划清界限。白宫已经明确否定了这些言论是针对这位身价亿万的金融家，不过罗姆尼的个人财务状况的确是奥巴马的竞选团队的攻击目标。

在奥巴马这次为期两天的竞选活动中，北卡罗来纳大学是首站，意在重新留住年轻选民。这批年轻选民曾在奥巴马具有历史意义的2008年总统大选中发挥了重要作用，但他们对2012年大选的热情似乎减弱了很多。美国教育部将从7月1日起将直接助学贷款的利率提高到6.8%，奥巴马的竞选主张之一就是呼吁利息维持在3.4%的低水平。

“我们的家庭并不富裕。当我们从大学和法学院毕业的时候，我们债台高筑。当我们结婚后，我们俩一起成穷人了。我们估算资产，发现一无所剩;但当我们清算债务时，却发现欠了很多很多债——基本上是助学贷款。”奥巴马说的是他自己和他夫人米歇尔。

总统说，在他们结婚后的八年时间里，比起支付在按揭贷款上的费用，他们的钱更多地用来偿还助学贷款。

不过早在奥巴马离开华盛顿前，共和党全国委员会和米特·罗姆尼竞选团队已经先发制人地抨击了奥巴马的言论，共和党强调在奥巴马就职以来的三年多里，青年工人过得十分艰辛。

“他忘了提在过去的三年半时间里，他未能解决助学贷款问题，而且跳过了一个助学贷款议题的投票表决。他在演讲中说‘这不只是说说而已，更要有行动。 我们也同意。”共和党全国委员会女发言人克莉丝汀·库考斯基在总统发表演讲后说。