The improvement in the economy may well be occurring in spite of, not because of, Obama's policies. Some have argued, and have introduced data to show, that the recovery may have been faster had Obama done nothing at all. This horrible truth is that Presidential and governmental activity cannot, by itself, change economic conditions. If it could, then Obama and company could simply say, "Let there be jobs!" and jobs would miraculously appear.
Furthermore, as economists will tell you, the policies adopted by one administration may not really become influential until some time in the NEXT administration - it takes that long for the changes to become embedded in the economic structure. Some will argue that the improved economy now is not the result of anything that Obama has done, but rather reflects the policies of the Bush administration.
In general, all the Obama administration has done is create legislation which results in higher costs, either directly, or because of the administrative cost of implementing the new rules. The Health Care Reform Act is a classic example.
There are exceptions, of course. A very positive act, and one which held broad support on both sides of the aisle, was the GM bail-out. Costly as it was, it nonetheless preserved jobs because it preserved work to be done. Today, GM is nearly, once again, the largest car builder in the world. The pay back has been enormous, and since the government is now GM's largest single share holder, the tax money allocated to fund the bail out is likely to be repaid very handsomely. But don't give too much credit to Obama for this; the rescue of GM was engineered by people from both parties and experts whose grasp of the situation far outreached Obama's fragile understanding of economic systems.
Bottom line, while I am impressed by the recovery so far, and very hopeful that it shall continue, I see little evidence to credit any of this to Obama. The credit is owed more to ordinary folks whose inspiration and hard work did the job. Obama is an elitist, whose main talent is persuasion and organizing people to achieve political ends. And even that has been successfully challenged by a congress who has become singularly unimpressed with his rhetoric. He's at the low end of the gene pool when it comes to a comprehensive understanding of the way the world works. But along the way, he has occasionally had some good advice from others, and the common sense to accept it -sometimes.
This not to say that any of his opponents offer a much more hopeful alternative. This election, like so many others, may be a question of choosing the lesser evil. If Obama wins, it may be simply due to voters choosing the devil they DO know.