This week President Obama toured college campuses in states critical to his re-election. And thanks to an aggressive interpretation of federal law, he managed to get taxpayers to pick up the tab. But it was the content of his message that will really cost Americans: a demand that Congress cut the rates on federal student loans for the next academic year. Congress seems willing to oblige, which means taxpayers appear headed for another painful lesson in government lending.

The obvious political play is to shore up support among the college-age voters who went overwhelmingly for Mr. Obama in 2008 but are understandably less enthusiastic in 2012. So Mr. Obama is trying to cheer up these kids by freezing the current 3.4% fixed rate on the government’s subsidized Stafford loans for undergraduates…

At a campaign stop, er, we mean while travelling on “official business” at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Mr. Obama scored Republicans for suggesting that he was simply trying to distract attention from the bad economy. “What economy are they talking about?” asked Mr. Obama.