Conservatism is failing because it inherently looks back and embraces the past.
Conservatives think doing things the way we did 20 years ago is the best way. We've reached a point in history where we really need to do things a new way. The mess our country is in right now proves that we can't do things the same old way.
Conservatives bray "why go so fast on heath care". They also wondered why the Obama Administration was "going so fast" on the bank bailout, the auto bailout, and the Sotomayor confirmation. Obama has momentum and any slowdown might give the naysayers time to block important initiatives.
Republicans had 8 years to deal with these pressing issues and fiddled while Rome burned. Health care reform has been needed for the last 25 years. Hell yeah it needs to be done right away. Fer Christ's sake, people are literally dying for heath care reform.