An estimated 10,000 conservative activists, thinkers, public officials and movement grandees from around the nation convene here today for the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference, the long-running political Woodstock of the Right. There is an obvious exuberance among rank-and-file conservatives that will be on full display during CPAC, and that is Exhibit A for the proposition that one year can make all the difference in the world in American politics.

Consider the situation that confronted many of these same attendees at last year’s CPAC: President Obama had just been inaugurated and enjoyed remarkably high public approval ratings. Seemingly impregnable Democratic majorities in the Senate and House were set to approve Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus program, and were beginning hearings on radical legislation to federalize the commanding heights of the economy, beginning with health care and energy. Washington was moving to take over General Motors and Chrysler, Congress seemed certain to pass a bill to abolish secret ballots in workplace representation elections, and the Department of Homeland Security was only weeks away from making public an official “study” warning of “right-wing extremists.”