Conservatism, Bush, and Obama from the--er--gay HIV-positive conservative libertarian Catholic perspective

Andrew Sullivan's views of conservatism, Bush, and Obama in a nutshell:

Conservatism, at its core, is about the frailty of human goodness, the limits of human knowledge, the virtue of self-doubt when that is required, restraint on government executive power, and the correction and admission of error when necessary. What has happened to conservatism under Bush is that it has become a messianic, ruthless, totally certain imposition of ideology (fused even more lethally with theology). Obama is not the answer to this conservative predicament. He is a "progressive" liberal - but his liberalism contains more conservative elements of reason and prudence and restraint than the current Republican party.

I don't think the word "conservative" conjures up a rational and skeptical worldview in the heads of very many Americans, liberal or conservative--which is too bad. We'd all be a lot better off if it did.