In 2009, America’s first black president came into office with bold ambitions — and an economy in free-fall. Four years later, on Barack Obama’s watch, economic growth remains sluggish, unemployment is high and trillion-dollar annual deficits add to a staggering national debt. A president who had two years with a Democratic Congress to enact an effective economic recovery plan fell short of fulfilling his own promises.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney is a successful businessman and governor who exudes confidence. He stunned Obama with a commanding performance during the first presidential debate. Romney's running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, is a rising star in conservative politics. Yet despite Obama's considerable weaknesses, the Romney-Ryan ticket has not made a convincing case that it could do better.



As this election shapes up to be another squeaker, and each swing-state vote looms large, the candidates have swerved even farther from the ideological center. Thus cemented into uncompromising positions, neither man inspires confidence that he can break the partisan gridlock in Washington and get the country moving again. So we endorse neither.



No doubt, Obama came into office facing the most daunting economic challenge since the Great Depression. In 2008, the economy was shedding 750,000 jobs a month. Depending on your political persuasion, a $780 billion stimulus plan either helped to stop the bleeding or was a profligate waste of taxpayer money. Obama rightly takes credit for the U.S. auto industry bailout. During his term, the slumping stock market has rebounded, and the housing crisis is easing.



That said, a jobless rate close to 8 percent means tens of millions of Americans are out of work. Huge deficits put at risk the nation's creditworthiness and depress business expansion.



The president's deficit-reduction plan includes $4 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, with defense retrenchment as the war in Afghanistan ends. He would raise revenue by returning to Clinton-era tax rates on annual earnings above $250,000 — ending Bush-era breaks that were supposed to "sunset" two years ago.

Romney and Ryan offer a strikingly different view of government. They argue there is too much of it, and would slash spending and unleash the private sector. Romney wants to keep all Bush-era tax cuts, roll back rates another 20 percent and cut taxes on capital gains and interest. To pay the bill — estimated at $5 trillion over 10 years — he would end loopholes and deductions. Since he provides few specifics, it's a leap into the unknown.



The Obama administration did achieve one goal that has eluded five prior presidents — the Affordable Care Act, which blends ideas from both sides of the aisle and creates a pathway toward universal insurance coverage. In New York, 60,000 young adults now are covered on their parents' plans; 6.4 million women and other New Yorkers have coverage for preventive health services. These numbers are replicated across the country.



Romney considers "Obamacare" a dramatic overreach. He wants to repeal it and limit federal involvement in health care — though he also claims to favor the most popular features of the new law, and signed a similar law as governor in Massachusetts. Romney also opposes the Dodd-Frank financial reforms designed to protect small investors, homeowners and taxpayers from the Wall Street recklessness that nearly wrecked the economy in 2008.



On foreign affairs, Romney differs little from Obama. Little wonder, since Obama did away with Osama bin Laden, assisted Libyans in ousting Moammar Gadhafi, ended the war in Iraq and aims for a 2014 exit from Afghanistan. The administration stumbled after terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11 and killed Ambassador Chris Stevens. More broadly, however, Romney offers no better ideas than Obama on Syria, Iran or the Arab spring uprisings.



On social issues, contrast Obama's moderate position on abortion and birth control to Romney's pro-life furor and hands-off approach to women's contraceptive coverage. A President Romney pledges to oppose marriage equality and defund Planned Parenthood, and would likely add a fifth and deciding Supreme Court vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade.



Recent weeks have seen the return of a more moderate Romney, like the Massachusetts governor who championed universal health care and abortion rights. In primary season, though, he stood with the tea party and the hard right. Which is the "real" Romney?



Instead of trying to persuade you one way or another in a race where most minds are made up, we take this opportunity to lament a presidential campaign bogged down in trivialities, in thrall to extremists, hijacked by moneyed interests and, in contrast to four years ago, uninspiring in the extreme.