The Bland Middle?

John McWhorter rails against compromise:

[W]e are not always aware of what a glum, uninspiring thing compromise can be. It frustrates. Compromise was how things tended to go under those Vardaman sorts, when few thought of our government as especially gifted at getting serious things done. Or, the reason most of us have trouble naming the Presidents between Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln is that they were mostly compromise candidates chosen to mind the store as inoffensively as possible, not leaders or innovators.

I would so love a politician these days who could just "mind the store". Last time I checked, most stores had to balance their budget or go out of business.