Politifact has a good piece on how slow the recovery has been compared to other post-recession periods.
The GOP, of course, claims that this is the slowest recovery on record. Politifact calls that false.
They looked at job creation:
By this measure, there were two recoveries weaker than the one we’re currently experiencing -- the one from November 2001 to October 2003, under President George W. Bush, and the one from July 1980 to June 1982, under presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. The George W. Bush recovery is especially striking, since the economy actually lost more than 700,000 jobs during the first 23 months after the recession ended.
and the unemployment rate:
By this measure, too, the current recovery is not the weakest. Three recoveries actually saw an increase in the unemployment rate after 23 months (ones under George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush and Carter/Reagan), while another (under President Richard Nixon) produced a smaller decline in the unemployment rate than the current recovery has. (Because a budding recovery can entice discouraged workers back into the labor force, it’s not unusual for the unemployment rate to rise in a recovery.)
So it seems like the slowest recoveries from recessions were under Bush, Reagan, Bush and Nixon.
This is not to trivialize the current recession and slow recovery. The recession was deep and long and the recovery is agonizingly slow. But other recoveries were worse under the GOP, the recovery has stallled since the GOP regained control of the House and it can get much worse if they win in 2012.