I don't think Romney's message is off-key with this. The argument isn't that Obama caused the recession; the argument is that Obama's policies aren't conducive to economic recovery, even by Obama's own metrics. This is a fair point considering this:
Are you trying to argue that the stimulus didn't help
AT ALL? These projections wee made before any economist, Republican Democrat or nonpartisan, knew the true depths of the recession. As the chart said, without the stimulus, unemployment was expected to
PEAK at only 9% in fall of 2009, and as we all know, that didn't happen. They thought we only shrunk by about 3% and it turns out we shrunk by about 9%. So your argument is very flawed.