So many of the arguments made by conservatives for Barack Obama — Christopher Buckley, Ken Adelman, etc — come across more as indictments of McCain and the Bush administration than endorsements for the Democratic candidate. (In so many of the newspaper endorsements, the Palin pick has figured very prominently.)
If you’re a small-government conservative, neither of these candidates is probably that attractive to you. Same goes for those traditionalists, who would probably never consider Obama anyway (although this the rare case when the Democratic candidate is more at ease talking about his faith than the Republican).
Indeed, the strongest conservative argument for an Obama presidency might be something as decidedly unsexy as his competence.