Interesting the two things the President pushed through in the name of Compassionate Conservatism (No child and Medicare Prescription) were democratic, large governement vs what most conservatives want; he twisted a lot of GOP arms to get it passed.
Along with illegal immigration (-- another thing the dems want) these large government issues is what made many conservatives sit out the election. I don't know what to say about the libertarians, a third party vote is what Hillary is depending on and a lot of people voted libertarian rather than vote for either side. Do the libertarians really want to see Charlie Rangle take away their guns (he's already saying he wants to work with Bloomberg to do just that) and other constitutional rights?
The joke is, No Child Left Behind and Medicare Prescription are lousy ideas. Federalizing education is a terrible mistake. Moreover, I've never heard of a liberal who didn't hate it, so it made no friend there, either.
As for Medicare Prescription, I have recently retired, and I was advised not to touch it with a ten foot pole. My own private prescription plan offers more benefits for less cost.
Big government just isn't the best way to spread money around. In the end, all it supports is a big bureaucracy, with small change given out to selected clients to justify itself.