In commemoration of President Obama’s speech tonight, here’s a time series graph of monthly unemployment rates from January 2001 –  August 2011 (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics):

Interestingly, here’s an Internet polling graph captured minutes after President Obama’s speech came to a close; it is very bimodal, as is the current mood of our country (source: http://on.wsj.com/qqMLyI)

Finally, here’s the latest from the prediction markets concerning the odds of President Obama winning re-election in 2012: