Does anyone else really hate this election?

[ottermax]

My question is why is this election so dull, policy-poor, and exhausting?

I have a few hypotheses, but I'm full of my own biases.

Could part of it be that the President, really can't do much to change the economy? In general the government can change the economy, but the American system has never seen such deadlock before. I haven't been around long, but my understanding of the past century was that Congress also did their best to compromise and change policy to improve the economy.
Also, in a more globalized world, in which the US holds less and less share of the global economy, can the President do much? How can the next President change the situation in Europe, stop the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to China (without raising consumer goods prices in America), and control oil prices determined by OPEC? In the past we have made heavy investments to boost foreign economies, used military threats, and sponsored industrialization. But things are different; we no longer can afford global military fights, nor massive spending measures/bailouts, nor can we repeat the old economic policies of the past.

What has truly surprised me about this election is the utter lack of ideas and ingenuity. Where is Obama or Romney's economic plan? How will they change jobs? I'm sure they have those plans somewhere, but I don't think I saw a single news story this week mentioning any ideas, only rhetoric of one man against another. I've seen Youtube videos of advertisements lamenting on the harm Obama has done to the economy or Romney's foreign bank accounts, but not a single discussion about specific policy agendas. Even when discussing policy in negative ads, there is such poor judgment and analysis.