But that's not the surprising part. Both publications endorsed Obama in 2008. Both are willing to (grudgingly) compliment the president for arresting the plummet toward an economic depression, and both are reasonably happy with his calm approach to foreign policy.

What's surprising is that they didn't endorse Romney. Because they desperately, desperately would have loved to do so, if Mitt had just given them one good reason. The Economist headline captures this regret: "America could do better than Barack Obama; sadly, Mitt Romney does not fit the bill."

Sadly! One gets a strong visual image here of an English peer of the realm, tapping the ash off his stogie while staring moodily at a map of the world, and declaiming: "The British Empire had so much to offer; sadly those ungrateful wretches in the colonies wanted nothing of it."

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