When Barack Obama took the national stage as president on that bitterly cold day last January, he inherited an economic crisis of cataclysmic proportions. From day one, the chief executive sprang into action, pushing through a program to stabilize the financial sector and resurrect the American economy. Within six weeks of being in office, he effected a mammoth stimulus package that sought to help homeowners keep their homes, boost consumer confidence, thaw the credit markets, and put Americans back to work. As Obama begins his second year in office, he will continue his ambitious agenda. But will his initiatives be enough to silence the growing chorus of critics—some who argue that his $787 billion stimulus didn’t go far enough; others who say that proposals such as healthcare reform will contribute to huge deficits that will wreck the economy’s long-term prospects; and the cadre of unemployed and underemployed who are becoming increasingly impatient with this jobless recovery?