A few things happened last night that may not be noted much elsewhere.
The Reagan Youth (people in their 40s now) have in substantial numbers left the Republican party at least for the time being. This generation was never as conservative as pundits made out, though it probably was the most apathetic generation in some time. Also, I think while there are still Reagan Democrats out there, they're old.
Southern Evangelical conservatives are changing, but still Republican. It appears that the McCain campaign had some success rallying these voters with the selection of Sarah Palin, but that also alienated others. It may be that the inability of these voters to compromise will lead to their marginalization, much like the far cultural left remains marginalized.
On the other hand, there is likely to be some renewed strength in the Republican party for what they like to call small government conservatives. In my opinion, the way you can tell that movement is reinvigorated is when they start applying the libertarian label to themselves.
There will probably be some nonsense concerning this still being a center right country. Most people do not think that systematically or ideologically about the role of government. I don't think we are likely to see a new new deal or anything of the sort. We may see some adjustment of the tax code, and we'll probably get the SCHIPS bill that would have passed last year if not for President Bush's veto.
As someone who more or less believes in free markets, my main fear is that Obama will engage in protectionism, which would be the worst thing for the economy right now--far worse that a small tax increase or anything else he's proposed.
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Pretty close to my thoughts.
In addition to having more money and a more personally compelling candidate, the Democrats won because they came across as more serious about governing. The Republicans torpedoed their own credibility with their performance over the last eight years; this was the gang that couldn't conduct a war, offer a useful and prompt response to Katrina, trim the excesses of hyper-capitalism, or keep the books somewhere close to balanced.
The faith-based mindset ultimately ate everything, and manifested in every area from "Terri Schiavo, arise and walk" to "deficits don't matter." I'm getting a huge kick out of watching their post-mortems and circular firing squad... but like you, I hope they get their act together and eventually rejoin the reality-based community. The country needs an effective opposition party, and a steady voice for fiscal restraint and "a humble foreign policy"--real conservatism, not the faux Fox version--would be particularly useful
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