Assume all else remains equal. The Dems control the house and senate until 2010, then the Repubs take over. You come into office in the middle of a financial crisis and potential economic meltdown, and in the middle of the TARP program unfolding. Assume also that the opposing party will do whatever they can to block your plans.

Also, remember that hindsight is 20/20. In 2008, for example, many economists thought the recession was only half as bad as it turned out to be for the labor market.

What would you have done differently, why do you think it would have worked, and why do you think it would have passed Congress?

Topics: politics, economics, congress, 2008, presidents, Barack Obama