The conomy is improving, its not going in a negative direction and thats whats important. There has been no president, Dem or Repug that had no problems. The problem with the GOP is that they want people to cast a vote for them because things are bad, not because they're will and able to fix anything and steering hard to the right isn't helping.
Well, I don't share your assessment of the economy. QE II stalled a total free-fall, but the effects of this are fading, inflation is kicking in (as expected) and the economy is anemic, at best. The dollar is falling, there is actual talk of the dollar being abandoned as the World's reserve Currency, which would be DISASTROUS. The housing market is not rebounding... I just don't see the good news needed for Obama to be able to say "see, look what I've done?"
It's gonn be more like "hey, just think how bad it could have been." That's not going to cut it with most voters.