Why does Pres. Obama keep saying he "inherited" the economic crisis, war & so forth (Cont'd)?

Didn't he know there was an economic crisis and a war going on in Iraq before he decided to run for president? I've always thought that when you "inherit" something, means you either didn't know it existed until someone made you aware of the fact that you are the beneficiary of that inheritance, or you knew beforehand what the inheritance was and "willingly" accepted it without complaining about it. Thank you for helping to clear this up for me. :)