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knb comments on Vote Qualifications, Not Issues - Less Wrong
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From what I've heard, Nixon was one of America's smartest presidents and Jimmy Carter was a man of great personal integrity. Herbert Hoover was also a brilliant and extremely well qualified individual. Yet, I'm no fan of any of these presidents as they all, in my opinion, governed somewhat more poorly than average for US presidents. Looking at other examples, I don't see any significant pattern amongst presidents who governed well.
In contrast, I think presidents and other politicians who held my values (in hindsight) governed well (according to my own values system, of course). Yet I still don't think I should vote because I doubt my ability to predict which candidate will represent my values system better. For example, if I was a voter in the US presidential election of 2000, I likely would have voted for the worse candidate (for my values).
In any case, the issue is moot because the marginal effect of your vote is so close to zero.
Another issue is that the office of President was originally intended to be in line with what OP proposes: The President's main job is to manage the implementation of the laws made by Congress. The President, IMHO, is not supposed to spend his or her time pushing new health plans or tax cuts or creating new government departments. The President today is seen more as leader of his/her party than as leader of the nation.
Carter at least was, AFAICT, unlucky w/r/t the timing of his presidency. There's no obvious way to avoid penalizing politicians for serving during tough times.
On the other hand, if the times are bad enough, it's a pretty good way to get your name to the top of the history books. Just look at FDR and Lincoln. (In a sense, Lincoln could be considered the worst U.S. President; his administration was the only one in which there was a full-scale civil war!)