The Great Recession--was it?

The academic definition of a recession set by the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research described the last recession as the 18-month period from December 2007 to June 2009. Using the broader definition of the word “recession” as a period of reduced economic activity, it is customary these days to claim the recession as two years,  the period from December 2007 to January 2010--"The Great Recession."  That would give the Bush administration 12 months and Obama administration 12 months.  Obama, however, had Democrat control of both houses his first two years, and Bush was saddled with a hostile Congress his final two years, led by Reid and Pelosi. The Democratic Party controlled a majority in both chambers of the 110th for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995  (2 independents voted with Democrats). The Recession was global, but in the U.S. it belongs to the Democrats, with the roots of the housing crisis going back to1977 and the Community Reinvestment Act.

The current struggle to stop tax reform and keep economy busting regulations in place is led by Democrats even today, with a number of anti-Trumper Republicans assisting them out of personal animosity for the president.  The sluggish economy finally lifted in the final year of Obama’s reign with a Republican Congress. Determined and heroic Americans both liberals and conservatives in small businesses and the energy fields began to regain their footing, and the stock marked recovered.

Since November 2016, there has been more hope and change in the economy, something Obama just couldn’t deliver, despite his promises. Trump's detractors say he inherited a robust economy--which is only partially true--the Democrats had forgotten the middle income worker (aka "deplorables" according to Clinton).
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cra-debate-a-users-guide-2009-6
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/good-news-for-the-president-in-latest-trump-scoreboard-2017-11-03

http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/no-troop-surge-as-110th-congress-gets-to-work-the-call-is-raise-minimum-wage-end-iraq-war/
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/impact-110th-congress-us-foreign-policy