Sometimes he's less of a researcher than an advocate, less an economist than a partisan. "What you don't know can hurt you." Even before Obama took office, drew down over half of TARP, signed expanded budget bills, and introduced the Obama stimulus, most economists were pointing at the historical trends: Deep recessions = startling sharp recoveries; financial crises slow recoveries.

He also just looks at private sector. Bush II was antistimulus, but government-sector jobs increased until him during the first few years after "peak recession" and under Obama they decreased. This is largely beyond the control of the president, but a lot of people sort of ignored this.

We also have no memories.

We considered 5% unemployment back in 2005 to be outrageously high. We thought we'd die when it hit 6.3% for one month in 2003. We celebrated 6.5% as wonderful: Now, by comparison with 10% it was great. But great on its own terms it was not.

We also compared 10% unemployment in 2010 or 2011 with the Great Depression. We forgot that in 1982 unemployment--under conditions of still high inflation--hit 10.8%. (That's the year I graduated college. The incredible disintegration of the US economy from '74-'81 or so I will not forget.)