As Long Island struggled to recover from Hurricane Sandy, the area’s most influential newspaper, NewsDay, endorsed Mitt Romney for President on Saturday. In 2008, the paper endorsed Barack Obama:

Had Barack Obama done the job of president with the same passion and vision he displayed in seeking it, he would likely deserve another term. He did not. . .

Obama’s failure to accelerate the improvement of the economy is the dominant reason Romney is the right choice, but it’s not the only one. There are also the broken promises. On the campaign trail in 2008, Obama promised to halve the annual budget deficit of the United States. Instead, the shortfall has remained over $1 trillion per year, and the national debt has increased about 45 percent. . .

Obama promised a transparent administration but instead ran a secretive White House. And Obama promised a newfound respect for civil liberties, and yet, in an expansive reading of congressional authority to use military force, he has authorized the unilateral assassination of American citizens abroad.

Obama promised to drive the unemployment rate below 6 percent in four years. It sits at 7.9 percent, just above the level when he was inaugurated. . .

What Romney has actually shown in his political evolution is a willingness to represent the will of his constituencies. We hope that means a lack of dogmatic zealotry, rather than a lack of leadership.

Romney should not be, as he claimed during the primary season, “severely conservative.” He’s not the first candidate who swayed toward a more extreme base while seeking the nomination, then tacked toward the center during the general campaign.

Yet there is one chorus Republicans and Democrats sing in unison: “Washington is broken.” It’s true, and the far-right wing of the Republican Congress is more averse to compromise than any other faction. Who, then, can bring this side to common ground? The dogmatic Democrat who empowered the tea party revolution in 2010, or the Republican who will have far more power to bring the firebrands in his own party to heel and has no history of enmity to poison the process? If Romney succeeds in uniting the Republicans and bringing them back to the center, it could be an advantage for the nation. . .

Elected with a significant mandate and his party briefly in control of both houses of the Congress, Obama squandered the support of the nation.

Newsday endorses Romney.

When a traditionally liberal newspaper like NewsDay in a very blue state like New York endorses Romney over Obama on the weekend before the election, a landslide victory by the challenger may well be in the cards this Tuesday.