Economy adds 243,000 jobs in Jan; unemployment drops to 8.3%

Great news for President Obama - not so great for Mitt Romney.

The folks in the White House couldn’t have asked for a better January jobs report.

The AP: In the most impressive jump for the job market since the middle of last decade, the unemployment rate fell for the fifth-straight month after a surge of January hiring, a promising shift in the nation's outlook for job growth. The Labor Department says employers added 243,000 jobs in January, the most in nine months. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3% from 8.5% in December. That's the lowest in nearly three years.

Remember, Mitt Romney's biggest argument for being President is that President Obama "didn't cause the recession, but he made it worse." Check out the chart below. It shows the rise and fall of unemployment applications. The arrow shows when President Obama's stimulus policies took affect. Now seriously, does it LOOK like President Obama's policies "made it worse?"

In addition, the stock market is already off to its fastest start in 15 years as more investors start to believe the economic recovery is finally for real and will only get stronger. The Dow has gained 4 percent in 2012.

Some facts comparing the last GOP administration's affect on the stock market versus President Obama:

• 60 percent: Increase in the Dow Jones Industrial average during the first three years of President Barack Obama's term, up 4,771 points to Friday's close of 12,720 as his fourth year begins.

• -1 percent: Decline in the Dow during President Bush's first term from 2001 to 2005, dropping 116 points to 10,471.

• -24 percent: Decline in the Dow during President George W. Bush's second term from 2005 to 2009, dropping 2,522 points to 7,949.

Unemployment improving, stock market improving, our military out of Iraq... And Mitt Romney says we're heading in the WRONG direction???