You call this rough?

According to our Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs (who clarifies what the President says, even though this President is really good at communicating off the cuff), our President planned to give a State of the Union Address in which the he would "outline the fact that we've lived through one of the most challenging years in our country's history."

Indeed, last night our President himself called this past year "one of the most difficult years in our history."

Huh.

Let's see here... Difficult years in American history:

1775–1783: The American Revolution
Panic of 1797
Shay's Rebellion
Whiskey Rebellion
Depression of 1807
War Of 1812
1846-48 – Mexican-American War
1861-1865 -- US Civil War
1865-1877 Reconstruction
Panic of 1873 and the Long Depression
Indian Wars
1898 --Spanish American War
Assassination of President Garfield.
1899-1913 Philippine American War
1917-18 – World War I
1918-19 -- Spanish Flu Epidemic
1929 -- 1933-- The Great Depression

1941-1945 --World War II
1950-53 – Korean War
1962 – Cuba. Cuban Missile Crisis
1963 -- Assassination of JFK
1959-75 – Vietnam War
1974 -- Resignation Of Richard Nixon after Watergate investigation.
1975 -- U.S. Forces Evacuated from Vietnam, Cambodia,
1970's Oil crisis
1979-1981 -- Iran Hostage Crisis
1981 -- President Reagan is shot
1986 -- Challenger disaster
2001 -- Sept 11 Attacks, Anthrax campaign.
2001 -- War in Afghanistan begins
2003 -- Invasion of Iraq begins.
2005 -- Hurricane Katrina

Shoot, I know I'm missing a bunch. So how does this last year stack up?

I question if 2009 even makes the top 90 most unpleasant years. Certainly not for a man who handed the MVP trophy before he'd ever taken a turn at bat.