The nice thing about having a Democrat in the White House is that there is no bad news...

..such as the fact that 2012's Christmas sales were the weakest since 2008:

Bargain-hungry Americans will need to go on a post-Christmas spending binge to salvage this holiday shopping season.

Despite the huge discounts and other incentives that stores offered leading up to Christmas, U.S. holiday sales so far this year have been the weakest since 2008, when the nation was in a deep recession.
 

Note the headline: "Holiday Shopping: U.S. Consumers Spent Cautiously This Year, Disappointing Retailers."

Sure, "cautious"...like they were in a deep recession.