As President Obama prepares to issue an unspecified executive order on student loan debt – which is now just shy of $1 trillion – Bill Frezza explains why the left is dying for a partisan fight on this issue:

In the realm of economic stimulus proposals, none is as audacious, as Machiavellian, and as transparently designed to buy the votes of a critical electoral demographic than the proposal to forgive all student loans. Even if it fails, as it likely will, the seamless coordination between members of Congress, leftist advocacy groups, and the media to try to sell this idea is a perfect example of how brilliantly certain factions play their hand in the high-stakes game of crafting the dominant political narrative.

Obama’s upcoming student loan order obviously isn’t going to be anywhere near as radical as a $1 trillion debt forgiveness plan. If his mortgage refinancing proposals today were any indication, his actions on student loans will probably be pretty underwhelming. But the student loan problem is only likely to grow in the coming years, and left-wing groups like MoveOn.Org are jumping on the debt amnesty bandwagon. It could easily become the new rallying cry of the left as student debt climbs into the 10-digits.

Whatever student loan restructuring Obama is likely to propose later this week, he also needs to be cautious about creating the same atmosphere as the one that drove the housing crisis. At IBT, David Magee writes:

Obama is trying to get America’s economy moving again in part by passing more debt burden to debt-laden American consumers.

That’s really no different than the tool that helped America’s economy grow in the past decade, inflating into a bubble. The idea then was to make it easy for Americans to get debt, since money in their hands stimulates the economy. But that doesn’t mean the people can afford it. That doesn’t mean it’s truly best for them.

A better plan might be to use more caution when granting student loans to begin with. Obviously there is no perfect method, but requiring borrowers to show some indication the loan can be paid back would be more practical.