Its indisputable that Obama inherited a load of messes.
However, this is the case in some way shape or form for most Presidents. Is it perhaps worse for Obama than many? Absolutely, I'd put it around on par with Reagan. The issue however is that is part of the job. No one said the Presidency was supposed to be easy, and ultimately by taking the position it becomes your responsability.
Say you apply for a job at a company with the knowledge before hand that you're going to be heading up a project that has had a load of issues and problems. They're bringing you in to hopefully fix it, and while they're going to give you some lattitude and be understanding that you didn't create these issues, its still now going to be YOURS. So if you get in there and the actions you're taking to fix it aren't really working, or that fix isn't coming as quickly or efficiently as your employers like, or you're "fixing" it in a similar way that it got broke in the first place you're employer is not going to go "Well, its okay, you didn't cause this."
No, you took the job knowing there were issues and you took the job with the promise and the notion that it was going to be on you to fix it. You have claimed responsability for the issue.
This is what Obama, and all Presidents, face.
We must keep it in proper context. Obama did inherent this. There are issues with this that are the fault of the Bush Administration and the congresses (both the Republican ones from 2000-2006 and the Democrat one from 2006-2008) that were presiding over it. That should definitely temper things, especially very early on and it should keep anyone from stating that Obama caused these or invented these issues.
However, while it WAS Bush's War...they are not Obama's wars. Why? Because he's President, he took up the mantle, he said he had a plan, he has the job, and its now his responsability. Was this Bush's recession? Yes. Now it's Obama's, because he took up that responsability. If he didn't want the repsonsability he shouldn't have ran. If you don't want him to have the responsability, you shouldn't have voted for him.
And while Bush may've helped to cause these things, one can not simply keep pointing to him as the cure for all ills that go wrong...especially now a year and a half out. If someone says "Obama's [x] isn't helping/is hurting the economy" an answer of "Well he didn't ask for it!" or "Its bad because of Bush!" is not legitimate. He DID ask for it, by choosing to run for the Presidency knowing these issues and telling us he'd fix it. It doesn't matter if its bad because of Bush, he's the President now and he's elected to try and fix it and if he's unable to HE gets the blame.
There is not a job in this country where if you are unable to do what you're hired to do, or if you do the opposite of it, that you're free from criticism or reprimand because "Well the guy that had this job a year and a half ago had it in a crappy position".
Republicans need to stop acting like all these problems materialized under Obama. However Democrats need to stop acting like pointing back to Bush somehow excuses Obama for any of the continued problems a year and a half into his Presidency.
These are his now, as much as they are Bush, because he's the President and he ran knowing full well these issues were here and with the statement to the American people that he was the man to fix them.