I remember last year trying to point out to people that "getting bad less fast" was not the same as "getting better." Sure if you were optimistic it was a signal that things might turn around in the future, but it wasn't actually proof of that.
People make possibly valid excuses for the administration for a variety of things, but I'll point to one thing they completely and utterly screwed up which wasn't due to the need to placate President Snowe or whoever - the HAMP program. At best it did nothing for people, and frequently it made things worse as banks strung them along and then screwed them in the end.
