Is this the recovery we were so boldly and confidently promised?

Obama ran on the promise to be the "fix-it" guy to improve the economy.  He promised more jobs, lower deficits, and renewed prosperity.  We believed him and a record turnout of voters handed him the keys to the oval office.

image from mpg.org

For four years, Obama has done everything he could to fix that mess.  He spent hundreds of billions of dollars to stimulate our economy.  Do you see the benefits of it in your community?

Obama spent hundreds and hundreds of billions to create jobs.  He even promised to lower the unemployment rate to 6%.  Yet, unemployment has been stuck above 8% for 43 months.  Are your friends and neighbors back to work in your community?  If so, are they working for less pay and fewer hours?

Obama promised to help desperate families who were facing foreclosures on their homes.  He spent $75 billion on a government backed refinance program.  The program was a complete failure.  Even the New York Times reported that the program "fell vastly short of its goals."

Obama promised to help middle class families.  New reports show that under Obama's watch, median incomes are down 8.2%.

Is this the recovery we were so boldly and confidently promised?

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The Commerce Department released an extremely concerning report today regarding the state of our economy.  The demand for U.S. goods and services unexpectedly dropped for the third consecutive quarter.  Orders for durable goods inexplicably fell 13.2% last month alone.

Most alarming?  The report shows a revised figure for the growth of the U.S economy / GDP.  The number has now been revised from 1.7 to 1.3 percent.

The Obama team would argue, well, at least it is still growing, right?

It is important to realize that just one year ago, in the third quarter of 2011, the GDP was growing at 3 percent. The GDP has slowed and now hovers just above 1 percent.  The truth? We are declining from just one year ago.

A slowdown in GDP is devastating news for a fragile and recovering economy.

Forget the question, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" The new and more pertinent question?  "Is our economy even better off than it was a year ago?"

No.

image from realclearpolitics.com

CNN reported that growth of at least 3% is needed for the economy to produce enough jobs to meaningfully lower the unemployment rate.  If we are falling further away from 3%, how will we possibly create enough jobs to help 23 million Americans who are still struggling to find work?

Is this the recovery we were promised:  A slowdown of GDP to 1.3 percent--Unemployment still over 8%--a still crumbling housing market and $6 trillion added to the debt.

It would be hard to argue that this Obama recovery is actually a recovery.  No wonder many are now asking what it will take to "recover" from Obama's "recovery."

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Obama must have forgotten that his job description was to fix the mess he inherited.  Does he think the job description was merely to find out who was to blame?  Sorry Mr. President, we didn't hire you to solve a mystery, we hired you to fix our economy.  You didn't.

The left seems perfectly willing to blame the financial crisis on one man, but they refuse to blame this stagnant and pathetic recovery on one man's failed attempt to fix it.

This isn't a recovery.

For this reason, I will support the candidate whose resume shows that he knows how to fix a problem rather than just identify who is to blame.

We must ask ourselves, "Does Obama deserve a second chance to fix something he already failed to accomplish?"

My family can't afford to find out what happens if he gets it wrong...again.

Go Mitt.