Since the 2008 presidential election, media figures have tried to pin the blame for the current economic situation on President Obama by disappearing the Bush administration's role in their reporting of economic issues and repeatedly referencing the “Obama recession” and the “Obama bear market.” Nonetheless, a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll indicates that, as ABCNews.com reported: “Part of Obama's advantage in dealing with the economy is that, while blame and anger are in great supply, he escapes both. Eight in 10 Americans blame the situation on banks and other financial institutions for taking on too much risk; as many blame large business corporations for poor management decisions. Seventy-two percent blame consumers for taking on too much debt; 70 percent blame the Bush administration for lack of needed regulation. Just 26 percent, though, blame the Obama administration.”

From ABC News' poll memo:

From the poll:

As Media Matters for America has documented, beginning in early November 2008, conservative media figures like Fox News contributor and syndicated columnist Dick Morris, Fox News host Sean Hannity, and nationally syndicated radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Hugh Hewitt have asserted that Obama is to blame for the decline of the stock market since the November 4, 2008, presidential election by promoting the myth of an “Obama recession.” In fact, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession began in December 2007.

Additionally, numerous media outlets declared the existence of an “Obama bear market,” disregarding the Bush administration's role in the decline in the stock market. This follows a pattern Media Matters has identified in which the media have left out relevant information on a range of issues about the role of Bush-era policies or have suggested that Obama has greater responsibility for policies or events than he does. For instance, MSNBC used misleading charts in numerous reports to suggest that the Dow Jones industrial average began dropping only after Obama's election or inauguration, despite the fact that the Dow was on a downward trajectory months before the election, dropping 3,738 points from May 2, 2008, to November 3, 2008.