The terrible thing at that time was Bush got really screwed by an event in the economy that Jimmy Carter caused (unintentionally) when he signed a bill that let some dangerous things happen in the S&Ls.
The S&L Crisis that was sapping the treasury between Reagan and Bush 1's administration is what made it tough and was born of what Carter signed in 1980.
Apparently, Perot had a personal thing against Bush, I know you must remember the strange deal where he claimed something about Perot's daughter, a wedding, Bush and threats?
Clinton had zero chance to be President without Perot.
Once in, Clinton had the immediate benefit that Bush would have had in his second term, which was the S&L Crisis ending and the flow of bale outs ending.
Carter started the S&L Deal and Clinton benefited with the help of a dumb sh!t Ross Perot.
Remeber also that the economy had turned around for 3 monts out of recession and none of the press would report that for Bush 1.
You're right. What really gets me (in regards to the economy) is that too many people don't realize that change doesn't happen overnight. Ill informed folks think that as soon as a Pres. takes office, he deserves the credit or the blame on his first day! But then, if the Pres. is Dubya, he gets NO credit for a good economy because Dems despise tax cuts.