Jonathan Bernstein noted a pretty sneaky rhetorical trap set by Romney with his "are you better off?" question:
Obama is being asked to compare the economy now to what it was like before he took office — but if he says anything bad about how things were four years ago, it’s evidence of a character deficit.
Of course, the secret to avoiding the trap is to simply not give a flying rip what the Republicans will say or how they'll respond. Answer the "are you better off?" question, but speak the truth about the colossal disaster of 2008 that was created long before January 20, 2009 and how the Obama Team fixed it. It's history and, screw it, they asked! Too often the Democrats tremble in fear over what the Republicans might say. Screw that. Make the case and let the Republicans respond. Americans have short attention spans, but they won't soon forget the crash of 2008.