In one sense, Mr. Bloomberg was speaking for voters everywhere who feel exasperated by a presidential campaign that has been fought in sound bites and bromides as problems at home and abroad multiply. In another, perhaps, they are the words of a man who thinks he can do better, his own chronic yearnings for the office frustrated by his cleareyed assessment that he could not win.

But mostly, Mr. Bloomberg was stepping forward as the nation's newest billionaire "super PAC" donor, with a vow to spend millions beyond this election year supporting candidates willing to do what he implied Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney were not: taking "leadership and standing up to do things that aren't going to be popular."

What's his real goal here? Third party?