Barack Obama is touting his "recovery" on the campaign trail this week, but a lot of people aren't buying it. Indeed, Obama himself has told people privately that he expects the "real" recovery to begin in 1 to 2 years.

The Examiner:

The public President Obama, bubbly in his reelection campaigning about a recovering U.S. economy, isn't as optimistic in private, telling a select few that it will likely take up to two years for any recovery to click in.

A letter provided to Washington Secrets from Obama to a long-unemployed Portland, Maine carpenter pulls back the curtain of economic hope to reveal the truth about the stagnant economy. "I won't lie to you," Obama penned in hand to Charles Oliver in October. "It will probably take another year or two to fully dig our way out of this hole."

Oliver had written the president in June to ask: "Are we as Americans going to be alright?" Answered Obama, "Yes, we will be ok. Because America has gotten through tough times before, and because of good people like you."

While happy for the response, Oliver told us that he hasn't seen any of the recovery the president and media have been heralding. "He's out campaigning saying everything is coming up roses. He's a lying SOB," Oliver said of Obama, who has tried to temper his hopefulness with cautions that the recovery could hit speed bumps.

That's actually a pretty good estimate by the president. If he is defeated in November, it will take about 2 years for his successor's policies to kick in and jumpstart the recovery.

Unfortunately, people like Mr. Oliver can't hold out that long. It is a sign of the times that Oliver sold his letter for cash to fix his truck.

The president of the company that bought the letter - Alexander Autographs - has pledged to give half the proceeds from its sale to a company that will hire Mr. Oliver.