I finally figured out what "hope" and "change" mean to conservatives (loosely) who are endorsing Barack Obama. They "hope" the presidency will "change" Obama.

Here, taken from a couple of such endorsements, is what I mean:

President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves.

--Christopher Buckley

I sure hope Obama is more open, centrist, sensible—dare I say, Clintonesque—than his liberal record
indicates, than his cooperation with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid portends.

--Ken Adelman

In other words, they hope Obama will not revert to Leftist type. Which doesn't exactly come under the heading of hard-headed analysis, no matter how deeply such conservatives (loosely) are weirdly and wildly affronted by the very sight and sound of Sarah Palin. They rail against her, lambasting John McCain for choosing so "inexperienced" a vice president, thus forcing them to vote for Barack Obama. (They seem to have forgotten the gaffetastically buffoonish Biden altogether.) The fact that top-of-the-ticket Obama both lacks experience and, far more consequentially, has profoundly anti-American intellectual and political connnections that, by rights, should bar him even from a security clearance--doesn't matter to them at all.

Maybe that's because in this election, logic is out and feelings are in. The  Obamacons feel comfortable with Obama as a matter of  social class--Ivy League, law degree, author, "citizen of the world" (who, even so, never set foot in Europe before this year). The point is, even to such conservatives (looslely), ideology, point of view, outlook, are secondary at best, relegated to that "hope" the presidency will "change" Obama, and mainly so the Obamcons can feel good about themselves for shunning Sarah--smart, folksy, capable, big-hearted, pro-American, tough political star and energy expert Sarah.

No worries, though. The Obamacons will feel good about themselves no matter what happens to the country.