2012 Political Predictions

[decoski]

Now that America seems destined to get screwed by a Socialist President, I am predicting that this will be a repeat of history. A moderate Republican (Ford) lead to liberal Democrat (Carter). After 4 years of that, Americans had enough! The Conservative revolution under Reagan lead to a landslide victory and 2 terms of greatness. I predict that after running America into the toilet for 4 years, the Conservative revolution will be back with a landslide victory for Bobby Jindal, Mitt Romney, or Sarah Palin. I warned you people during the primaries that McCain would lead to an Obama victory. The wrong man got nominated. It should have been Ron Paul, Fred Thompson, or Mitt Romney in that order. I hope that America wakes the hell up in 4 years!
Rant over!

[Pilgrim]

Lol. And again you show how little you understand the economy, socialism vs. capitalism (here's a clue, the US already exists and has for some time existed as a mixed economy). Carter a Liberal Democrat. Right. To be fair, now you might be able to say that. Then he was considered pretty far to the right of his party.

[NeilUnreal]

Four years is a long time in today's political climate. How many people four years ago would have predicted Barack Obama?

If I were forced to predict, however it would be this: Before the 2012 election, Joe Biden announces his retirement. Barack Obama selects a woman to be his new running mate, she will be a moderate Democrat or a moderate independent. The Republicans select a moderate Presidential candidate, possibly a woman, but someone with existing national experience. If the Republicans do not pick a woman for Presidential candidate, they will select a woman or minority for Vice Presidential candidate. And in all of the above cases, there is a very good chance that at least one of the candidates will be Hispanic.

-Neil

[SteveF]

Given the current economic malaise, this is probably the best time to lose an election.

PS; do right wing Americans have a different definition of socialism to the rest of the world?

[rogue06]

Given the current economic malaise, this is probably the best time to lose an election.

PS; do right wing Americans have a different definition of socialism to the rest of the world?

The definition does differ a bit - much like the definition for conservative is different in Europe than it is here.

[Pilgrim]

Given the current economic malaise, this is probably the best time to lose an election.

PS; do right wing Americans have a different definition of socialism to the rest of the world?

Yes, they do.

[FlimFlamboyant]

In 2012, I predict:

1. We'll be waiting in ever-growing lines for treatment of important health issues whilst the quality of care we eventually receive will be diminished. Many good doctors will leave the medical industry, citing poor working conditions and lousy pay.

2. Private health insurance will either be a thing of the past, or regulated to the point where it too is of severely diminished quality. Barack Obama mentioned in the debate last night that he would prevent insurance companies from "discriminating" against people because of their prior medical history. Someone get an EKG, I swear the man is brain-dead.

3. Federal limits on land and square footage will be imposed on new residential construction in a brain-dead attempt to bring down the cost of housing in the name of "fairness". Those with larger homes will see their property values decline sharply as the feds take over zoning in many areas, surrounding them with enormous piles of shoe box-sized shacks.

4. Enormous tax increases on companies that attempt to escape over-regulation, over-taxation, and an astronomical national minimum wage by moving much of their business overseas. Layoffs and cuts in future hiring bringing our national unemployment rate in to the 7-8% range.

5. Millions of brain-dead Americans voting for the next Socialist fool promising to spend and regulate even more in order to fix the mess for them.

[Sheepdog]

If Obama is elected, I predict I'll be layed off sometime next year, as will many Americans here.

[Philosophickle]

Given the current economic malaise, this is probably the best time to lose an election.

PS; do right wing Americans have a different definition of socialism to the rest of the world?

It isn't different, I don't think, but we tend to grade socialism in degrees.

[Lazarus]

I predict that a President Obama will stabalize the economy by cutting government spending (does he really have a choice?) and raising taxes. He will cut the number of troops in Iraq but there will still be a U.S. presence there after 4 years. The troop level in Afghanistan will rise and conflict there will escalate for the next two years before reaching a low burning level. Three Supreme Court justices will retire and Obama will attempt to appoint activist judges as replacements, but faced with a hesitant Congress he will have to settle for more middle of the road justices. I don't see too much changing in the Supreme Court unless Obama has very long coattails in this election, but I think that is a long shot.
In four years the Republicans will take a very close look at Jindal, Huckaby, and Romney. There may be a few other names there, such as Sen. Brownback of Kansas, but I think Palin will disappear on that long bridge to nowhere. Her 15 minutes are up. McCain may not win the Presidency, but I think he will still be around and will certainly be a thorn in the side of a President Obama. Then again, maybe I'm way off base and none of this will come true.

[Pilgrim]

in 2012 things will look pretty much exactly the way they looked this morning. Some things will be a little worse, some things a little better. The cycle will continue and everyone will be sure that every failure is the result of the actions of the people they don't like and every success the result of the actions of the people they support.

[decoski]

Lol. And again you show how little you understand the economy, socialism vs. capitalism (here's a clue, the US already exists and has for some time existed as a mixed economy). Carter a Liberal Democrat. Right. To be fair, now you might be able to say that. Then he was considered pretty far to the right of his party.

I understand the economy quite well, thank you very much, and Obama will move this mixed economy farther Socialist. "Spreading the wealth" is just one example.

[Hamster]

I don't know, the only calendar I have is Mayan and it doesn't go up that far

[ChemMJW]

My only thought is this:

Whether it is McCain or Obama who wins the upcoming election, my suggestion is that the winner not get too comfy in the White House.

After the euphoria wears off when xyz is elected, and after the losing side tires of screaming about obvious conspiracies, voter fraud, election stealing, and so forth, the next President is going to be confronted with the unfortunate reality that he has a ton of work to do, and very, very little to do it with. The problem the next President faces is that we Americans are a fickle bunch - we ignore reality during election season, giving free reign to our passions so we can ensure that candidate xyz gets elected and that evil, evil candidate abc is defeated. Once the euphoria wears off, however, we are ready at the drop of a hat to turn on the man we just gave our blood and sweat to elect when he doesn't deliver on the million campaign promises that nobody with the intelligence of a tree stump could possibly have believed in the first place.

So, my prediction is that November 2008 - February 2009 will be very exciting months, as we debate the outcome of the presidential election until after the inauguration, and then by August 2009 the new president will have approval ratings no higher than a committed skeptic's approval in the Tektonics forum, at which point we'll all sober up and realize that neither McCain nor Obama will be ushering in any magical new golden age of peace and prosperity in America. And then we'll stab the President in the back and boot him out of office in 2012, screaming in righteous anger that only a moron could have voted for him in the first place.

And so, Senators Obama and McCain, I wouldn't be ordering any new furniture and looking at any new color swatches for the White House. Without some major economic miracle, I doubt either of you will be there for very long . . .

[NeilUnreal]

in 2012 things will look pretty much exactly the way they looked this morning. Some things will be a little worse, some things a little better. The cycle will continue and everyone will be sure that every failure is the result of the actions of the people they don't like and every success the result of the actions of the people they support.

Plus ca change.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct
the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present
period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its
being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree
of comparison only.

Charles Dickens, 1859, A Tale of Two Cities