Lots of economists would debate whether the recession we experienced was more like the Great Depression than any recession since 1950. It absolutely was different in the sense that home values declined so precipitously and dramatically. Most economists, all of them that I've read recently, have opined that recovery from the deep economic recession the U.S. experienced during 2007-2009 can't happen until home values stabilize and begin to increase again.

I won't argue that all of the actions taken on Obama's administration so far are good and effective in creating economic recovery and jobs. Both Dodd-Frank and the healthcare reform bill are Rube Goldberg abominations, in my opinion. But let's not forget that both those bills were the product of hot negotiations between two political parties in a Congress widely divided by both ideology and political motives. I will blame his administration for the installation of regulations which I don't believe are helpful, like blocking the oil pipeline from Canada for no good reason. And I definitely think that the president's fiscal policies will have long-term negative effects. But to say that President Obama slowed an economic recovery that might have proceeded at a faster pace is conclusion that can't be assigned solely to the POTUS and fully supported by the facts.