It turns out that escaping the economic crisis was the easy part. At the end of his second year in office, experts say President Obama needs a long-term plan for fixing the economy, and he needs to muscle it past a reluctant Congress. On the eve of last year's State of the Union address, we asked several top economists, bloggers, and pundits to rate Obama's stewardship of the economy in his first year in office; he won praise for his immediate response to the crisis.

This year's report card reflects the fact that while the economy is starting to show signs of life, unemployment remains stubbornly high. Our current group of experts expressed concerns about Obama's plans for job creation and addressing the deficit, as well as his management of the policy-making process. Here are the grades they gave him, from best to worst.



Nouriel Roubini

* Professor of Economics, Stern School of Business, New York University; Chairman, Roubini Global Economics * Overall grade:

"When the president came to power he inherited the worst economic and financial crisis since the Depression, in addition to two foreign wars; the economy was in freefall....