I got my figures from the OMB.

For some reason, the chart isn't loading. I'm going to take a GUESS at the point you're trying to make and I'll ask the following..

Is that simply going on Calendar Years as opposed to Fiscal Years? The reason I ask is that Bush's last budget was FY 2009, which started on 10/1/2008 (before the election Obama won). The FY 2009 deficit was $1.4T, according to the OMB.

Obama's first FY was FY2010, starting Oct 1, 2009. According to the OMB the FY 2010 deficit was $1,293,489,000,000 (they list it in millions).

I got my figures here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals using the spreadsheet downloaded form the first link on that page. This includes on AND off-budget numbers.

Now, to be fair, Bush's deficits were (in order starting in FY 2002), $157B, $377B, $412B, $318B, $248B, $160B and $458B in FY 2008 before the big $1.4T in FY 2009.

But to be even more fair, Clinton's surpluses started in FY1998 and were, in order, $69B, $125B, $236B and $128B in FY 2001. Clinton's deficits ran from $203B in FY 1994 to $22B in FY 1997.