By late Tuesday evening as John McCain was conceding and hundreds of thousands of people were descending upon Chicago’s Grant Park to witness history-in-the-making as Barack Obama assumed the presidency of the Untied States, radio talk show bloviator Rush Limbaugh had to be feeling like a bigger self-made chump than Eliot Spitzer.

After all just a few short months ago Limbaugh had been predicting Obama would “lose big” in the upcoming presidential election because he would fail to attract traditional Democratic constituencies - blue-collar, working class voters. Sheesh, if this guy was any more wrong, he’d make Dick Cheney seem like Kreskin.

And indeed, since Tuesday night, Limbaugh has been inveighing against Obama, calling him a Chicago thug. Maybe, but if he is Barack Obama just might be the first Harvard educated thug in Chicago history.

What Limbaugh and his fellow radio henchmen refuse to acknowledge is that the Obama camoaign will likely be studied for years to come by political scientists and historians as perhaps one of the most flawless presidential campaigns in American history, with the possible fashion faux pas of Michelle Obama’s dress on election night.

What was she thinking? But that’s another story.

John McCain lost his race to Obama primarily because he was old, picked a crazy nut for a running mate and bounced around like a pin-ball from issue-to-issue, never finding his footing, or a coherent message to justify his election.

The Obama campaign from Day One, remained focused, even keeled, undistracted, on point and disciplined - in short presidential.

This was like Mr. Dithers taking on Steve McQueen.

And while McCain was whining about Bill Ayres, or vague references to “socialism,” and unruffled Barack Obama promoted a vision for the future.

Why did Barack Obama win? Because much like Ronald Reagan, 28 years ago, the Illinois senator offered a sense of idealism, optimism and the promise of a better day. John McCain talked about Joe the Plumber, who was busy hiring a public relations firm to promote him.

Despite all the lies, Obama prevailed against the chattering classes of right-wing radio.

He is not a Muslim. His is not a socialist. He was born in this country. He does not want to take your guns away. he does not ant to change the national anthem to “I Want To each The World To Sing.” He is a Christian.

And on his journey to the White House, Barack Obama, a former community organizer, organized tens of thousands of people to work for him, on the way to creating a sophisticated $700-million campaign, which utilized the latest in technology to raise money, mobilize supporters and promote his message.

And his critics claimed he had never managed anything?

The Obama campaign has transformed the American political landscape.

Rush Limbaugh will still have his audience of lemmingesq fellow travelers to carry for his gospel of shopworn rigjht-wing ideology.

If you want to tune in, Limbaugh will be easy to find. Just look in your rear-view mirror. Riding with John McCain, George Bush and Sarah Palin in a buckboard, falling further and further behind.