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Predictions for 2007 John LeBoutillier It's a new year, and following tradition, here are my predictions: 1) Iraq will descend into more and more chaos and violence. The prime minister will not last the year — there will either be a coup or he will be killed. His replacement will either be Moktadr Al-Sadr or a similar cleric, and the government's No. 1 enemy will be the United States — the very entity that allowed a new Iraqi government to exist in the first place. Bush's "Surge Plan" will not stabilize the violence in Iraq; it will increase it. More American troops means — to these barbarians — more targets of opportunity; i.e., more American to kill. And Bush's plan for pouring more American taxpayer money into Iraq is a total waste of our money. Talk about a rat hole! None of that money will do a thing to change the situation in Iraq. It is hopeless — and Bush and his political tin ear are the last to realize it. 2) Iran will grow even more radicalized and will accelerate their nuclear program even faster. Bush's plan will alarm Tehran even more as they are afraid of a pre-emptive American attack, and they will grow even more militant. 3) There will be another assassination attempt on Pakistan's pro-American President Pervez Musharref. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida hope to remove him and take over the Pakistani government and thus gain control of an already-existing nuclear arsenal. (Osama wants the bomb way ahead of Iran; Osama is Sunni and Iran is Shi'a and they are in competition for spiritual control of the Muslim world.) 4) Here at home: Bush will dip below 30 percent in his approval ratings as Iraq continues to ruin his presidency. His Surge Plan will anger people, including Republicans and conservatives, and the coinciding congressional investigations will drive his already-abysmal ratings into the high 20s. 5) Having gone from a lame-duck to a dead-duck president, Mr. Bush's influence in the GOP will virtually disappear. The handful of so-far pro-Bush presidential candidates will try to separate themselves from Bush and almost run against him. That may be hard as many of them had gone into the tank for Bush and the war in Iraq over the years. 6) McCain will fade as the year progresses. He already looks old and tired and is so out-of-touch on Iraq, and is so pandering to the same people he trashed six years ago, that his end is coming and soon. His years of incredible arrogance and condescension and demeaning sarcasm aimed at others is going to come back and bite him. The country is yearning for someone new, and he is just the opposite. Farewell, John. We wish we never knew ye!
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7) Romney has been exposed as a total fraud; his deliberate courting of the Log Cabin GOPers in 1996 has blown up in his face. Two months ago he was the rising star of the right; now he is toast on the right, and they are desperately looking for someone else. Romney is attractive and smart and has a Mormon network out raising money for him so he will still make a strong run. But his hopes of being the next Mr. Conservative have been severely damaged.
The conservative right has yet to find their man and that candidate is the likely GOP nominee in 2008. 8) Rudy's missing campaign plan highlights much about this candidate: He is ridden with problems with people waiting to come forward to rat out his bad behavior, the Bernie Kerik factor - not to mention his apparent ambivalence about even running in the first place. Plus, his positions on most issues are at total odds with the base of the Republican Party. Still, he has a hero image to some and high name ID, so he is a factor for the time being. But he is a candidate ready to implode at any moment. 9) A new Republican candidate will emerge. Is there someone new out there? Yes, there is. The Republicans are waiting for our version of Obama — someone fresh and new and nice and positive with no baggage. There is plenty of time in 2007 for a new candidate to emerge; in fact, it might be best for that new candidate to wait until later to announce so as to avoid "candidate fatigue." 10) On the Democratic side — contrary to Hillary's now-public wishes — Barack Obama is not going to fade. His novelty will not yet wear off. His strength is her weakness: He is new; she is old and has been on the scene for 15 long years. Obama is fresh; Hillary is polarizing. Do not write him off for the Democratic nomination. And do not write off John Edwards either. He is everyone's second choice, and sometimes those guys end up winning. 11) By the end of 2007, McCain and Hillary — today proclaimed by the mainstream media as front-runners for their parties' nominations — will no longer be front-runners. 12) Regarding the "big scandal," oft-mentioned in this space in years past, let us all pray as Americans that the truth about this awful act of U.S. government malfeasance finally comes out this year. I cannot predict that it will come out, but efforts are underway to make some of it public. I will say this: It is by far the worst political scandal in American political history. Happy New Year to all!
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