Short-term econ numbers aren't a good gauge of presidential performance. Or even a good gauge of the economy, esp when there's reason for unusual short-term behavior. And yes, I wrote the same thing (on this very website) when Sept 2017 had the worst job growth numbers in years.
More growth is almost always better than less growth (arguable exception is inflating bubbles). When the economy slows, a lot of the pain falls on the working and middle classes. And conditions for them are usually the slowest to recover.