So, Obama has won. I haven't collected my thoughts on the issue yet, but I have a few things to say:

• We live in a center-right country. I think this election was more of a vindication of Obama himself than a vindication of his radicalism. We might still be ideologically conservative (see the Newsweek report on America's ideological leanings) but operationally liberal... but at least we're ideologically conservative...
  
• This is not the same as 1964, when Goldwater lost handily. That was a clear rejection of conservatism. McCain was always more impulsive than ideological.
  
• Perhaps the greatest irony of this election is that Iraq, the issue which led to both candidates' victories in their respective primaries (Obama got traction in the Democratic Primary because he opposed the war from the beginning and McCain wouldn't have had a chance to win except for his support for the surge), played such a small part in the election in the end.
  
• The silver lining for this election is that Bush has been clearly repudiated. Hopefully, the GOP will realize that America has repudiated "compassionate conservatism," but not traditional Conservatism.