Political Predictions

By Andrew Benjamin

It appears that the best path to the White House for the Democrats is to play to the radical Left, Hollyweird, minorities, and the elites of the East Coast, meaning that the winner of the primaries will stay left of center to win, while speaking platitudes to the center to seduce independents. Both candidates at this time lean on shameless pandering (Hillary), and complete lack of substance, meaningless inspirational slogans: "Change" & "Hope" and platitudes (Obama.)

The winner of the primaries will need a Vice President who will energize the fringe of the Democrats.

My prediction: Al Gore

You've seen it here first.

No one else can energize the Left to the degree Gore can...and will!

My initial thinking was that John McCain will need to appoint one of the losers in the primaries (Huckabee or Romney) for Vice President running mate. Both of these candidates bring substance, conservative values, and votes to the McCain camp...but they can also lose votes. America is conservative for the most part, but these days Americans are not taking the bait.

Either of these two would pick up the evangelical and right wing votes, but would turn off the independents.

I lean against the conventional wisdom and popular opinion. The right wing will have no choice but McCain, no matter whom McCain appoints for VP. Meaning, he could appoint Mikhail Gorbachev and the right will, holding their collective noses, pull the McCain lever. In short, the right stays with substance over rhetoric and national security over empty promises for hope and change. (In other words, both feet planted firmly on the ground.)

McCain will in fact lean LEFT, not Right, and aim to get the independent center, not just of his party, but to take votes from Democrats, many of whom are understandably uncomfortable with the Democratic platform of unconditional surrender on all foreign policy fronts to redirect money to favored domestic problems (most of which cannot be solved with any amount of money.)

In other words, many of these earlier Democrat policies that have been proven failures in the past. We are not Europe and hopefully we'll never be Europe.

The Democrat's plans to shift taxes and expand income redistribution can only have dire consequences for America's economy and the continued employment of the same workers who would vote Democrat (already showing in the performance of the stock market.) An expansion of trade and globalism is the cure for the deficit, not a reduction of it. Protectionism creates a single market -- our own -- and no buyers. Tax reductions worked for JFK, they worked for Reagan, they worked for Bush.

The laws of physics or economics have not changed this year...and they won't change the next, no matter how much hope for changing these immutable laws or reality we dream about.

-- AGB