On Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, President Obama made a case for national optimism. In quintessential Obama fashion, the speech was realistic about the problems (economic, racial, political) that the United States faces but gung-ho about the country’s capacity to make collective progress in spite of them. It was a reassurance, in troubled times, that most of our fellow citizens actually do share our beliefs on things like honesty, tolerance, not taking shortcuts, and not being ill-informed and insane. It was uplifting, and not particularly partisan. And a lot of conservative pundits who have not exactly been happy with the past eight years found, especially when compared to the kind of things the ostensibly conservative candidate in this election has been saying, that they liked it.

Blogger Erick Erickson:

I disagree with the President on so much policy and his agenda, but appreciate the hope and optimism in this speech. — Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 28, 2016

Text just now from a senior House Republican who gave me permission to tweet this: “We were supposed to make that sort of speech." — Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 28, 2016

Former Reagan and H.W. Bush speechwriter John Podhoretz:

Take about five paragraphs out of that Obama speech and it could have been a Reagan speech. Trust me. I know. — John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) July 28, 2016

Former Jeb Bush spokesman Tim Miller:

Will a Trump apologist explain to me why an 18 yo watching the conventions would want to be a Republican? We're giving away a generation — Tim Miller (@Timodc) July 28, 2016

Republican operative Rory Cooper:

Great speech. And we made it easy for him. — Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) July 28, 2016

National Review editor Rich Lowry:

American exceptionalism and greatness, shining city on hill, founding documents, etc--they're trying to take all our stuff — Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) July 28, 2016

Times columnist Ross Douthat:

A speech to make Republican elites feel sickened (as they should be) by what their party has nominated. — Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) July 28, 2016

Commentary’s Noah Rothman:

"What we heard in Cleveland week wasn't particularly Republican. And it sure wasn't conservative." - Barack Obama.

...

he's right. — Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) July 28, 2016

A number of the conservatives who praised Obama qualified their praise with caveats: That they still felt Obama had governed in a divisive way; that voters still have good reasons to be unhappy with the direction the country is heading. Their comments were not sudden change-of-heart endorsements of the current presidency. Which is understandable, given that they are conservative and Obama’s policies are generally progressive. And yet. Could you have imagined any of the things above being said a year ago, or maybe even a day ago? Sometimes, the world surprises us.