Leading conservatives’ responses to Barack Obama’s election were worlds away from partisanship. Their well wishes were not thinly veiled disdain for the Democrat’s triumph – instead they set a tone for the rest of conservative America.

John McCain’s concession speech, first of all, was unfailingly gracious.

In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.

A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt’s invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States.

And President Bush’s congratulations were more than polite:

No matter how they cast their ballots, all Americans can be proud of the history that was made yesterday. Across the country, citizens voted in large numbers. They showed a watching world the vitality of America’s democracy, and the strides we have made toward a more perfect union. They chose a President whose journey represents a triumph of the American story — a testament to hard work, optimism, and faith in the enduring promise of our nation.

It will be a stirring sight to watch President Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their beautiful girls step through the doors of the White House. I know millions of Americans will be overcome with pride at this inspiring moment that so many have awaited so long.

The morning after Obama’s election, Michael Gerson, former speechwriter and adviser to President Bush, wrote a column in The Washington Post, where he continued to express his concerns for how Obama will lead. But he made the overall point that as Americans, we should strive for our President to succeed, not fail for our own satisfaction:

This presidency in particular should be a source of pride even for those who do not share its priorities. An African American will take the oath of office blocks from where slaves were once housed in pens and sold for profit. He will sleep in a house built in part by slave labor, near the room where Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation with firm hand. He will host dinners where Teddy Roosevelt in 1901 entertained the first African American to be a formal dinner guest in the White House; command a military that was not officially integrated until 1948. Every event, every act, will complete a cycle of history. It will be the most dramatic possible demonstration that the promise of America — so long deferred — is not a lie.

I suspect I will have many substantive criticisms of the new administration, beginning soon enough. Today I have only one message for Barack Obama, who will be our president, my president: Hail to the chief.

These words are the kind of thing that can raise the level of conversation in the halls of power and in Congress, where the bitter partisan divisions often prevent political action on behalf of the country. They show me that conservatives, while remaining conservatives, haven’t entirely forgotten their compassion.