This IDB editorial is pretty devastating. It appears for large swaths of the country, there is no recovery at all.

Just 16 states have seen job growth since President Obama took office, according to state employment data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The remaining states have lost a combined 1.4 million jobs since January 2009.

Even 34 months after the recession officially ended in June 2009, there are still 11 states that have fewer people working now than at the start of the recovery.

Meanwhile, 20 states have unemployment rates at or above 8%, including nine with unemployment at 9% or higher, according to the BLS.

At the other end of the spectrum, Texas has been the leader in job creation under Obama, with 240,000 more people working there than when he took office. Since the recovery started in June 2009, Texas has added 474,000 jobs, which accounts for one in four of all the jobs created during the recovery.

North Dakota takes the prize for fastest job growth rate, with employment climbing 13% since Obama took office, due largely to the oil boom there.

The biggest job loser under Obama is California, which as of April was down 285,000 job vs. January 2009, BLS data show.

The data underscore how the lackluster recovery has failed to come close to filling back the job losses from the recession, a poor performance that is sure to weigh on Obama's re-election prospects.

The latest IBD/TIPP poll, for example, finds just 35% give Obama a top grade for his handling of the economy, while 43% give him a D or F.

Obama has attempted to assuage such concerns by boasting about the "extraordinary progress that we've been able to make," including "4 million jobs created over the last two years."

Obama's stewardship of the economy makes the Carter years look like paradise. This is clearly the worst 4 year economic performance since the end of World War II. Inflation is low because there's so little economic activity. Interest rates are low because the Fed can't think of any other way to try and jumpstart a dead economy. Even the positives are the result of a terrible economic environment.

One might argue the recession was not Obama's fault. But Romney can make the argument that the recession was deeper and longer as a result of Obama's policies.