A college student at a campaign stop in New Hampshire recently asked presidential hopeful Mitt Romney what he plans to do about the student loan debt crisis. The question carries a lot of weight, especially in light of recent Obama legislation (check out Online Editor Blythe Steelman’s story on page 2A for more on this) attempting to curb the loan crisis.

Romney’s answer? Nothin’.

OK, to be fair, he said a lot. He said exactly what he’s not going to do. He’s not going to give students a bunch of free stuff, he’s not going to lie to us, he’s not going to add to the debt, etc. What he is going to do, he said, is give us students great jobs so we can pay back our loans that total cumulatively in the trillions.

That’s a pretty sweet job you’re talking about there, Mr. Romney.

Well, it’s all clear now. President Obama isn’t running against a smooth-talking Republican presumptive candidate. No, he’s running against a magician—a magician who can create jobs without costing the public any money whatsoever.

Because that’s his whole point. If he raises taxes to be able to provide more Pell grants and subsidies for students, “that’s just taking money from your other pocket and giving it to the other pocket,” he said.

Romney’s incredibly clear and specific answer to this is simply willing jobs into existence. I mean, God willed things into existence, so why can’t he?

Why hasn’t Obama thought of this? It’s so simple.

And Romney furthered his answer a little later by encouraging students to borrow money from their parents to pay for college. More magic.

If he’s elected president, he’ll will it to be so that all parents can afford to pay skyrocketing tuition, room, board and book costs.

Maybe I’m just a dreamer, but I really want to believe Romney can make this all happen. I want to drop my ballot into his bubbling cauldron and just let the magic happen.

But there’s a small, logical part of my brain that tells me that would be lazy and irresponsible. Yeah, after about one second of thought, I’m pretty sure it would be.

Romney’s ideas sound so pleasant at first. It’d be nice to live in a world where jobs fall freely from the sky as often as rain and all parents can afford to lend their children thousands and thousands of dollars for college. It would be nice—but it’s simply not the case.

Romney’s either lying to us—appealing to our desire to live in a perfect world—or he’s assuming (because he’s out of touch) that we have a lot more money than we actually do.

Tsk tsk, Mitt. We all know what happens when you assume.