"Claiming that all good comes from your guy, and all evil comes from the other guy is not useful in choosing the best candidate." Exactly right!  Assigning responsibility to the president for any general trend misses other forces beyond the control of that office. In economic crises for instance, the actions of both Presidents Bush and Obama helped to avert the worst outcomes of the financial collapse of 2007, and shortened the duration of the recession that followed, though not to the potential or hoped-for degree. The Congress had more power but refused to use it.

The costs of both education and health care keep going up, but there is little the president can do, much more that Congress can do, and yet much more that public/private enterprise can do, in my opinion, to slow those inflationary trends.

I think we focus on the president too much in the economy and in social trends. The courts and Congress have at least equal power and responsibility.