Zandar's 2012 Predictions

Well, let's see what's ahead for 2012:

1. President Obama wins re-election.  I just think whomever the GOP candidate is, they'll be driven so far to the right they'll get stomped in the general.  And a grand total of none of these clowns can handle Obama in debates.
2. But...the GOP retains one, if not both chambers in Congress.  The most likely scenario is that the Dems lose control of Congress and enough GOP redistricting nonsense locks down their control of the House for two years.  If that happens, the GOP may very well eliminate the filibuster in order to force shutdown/hostage scenarios approximately every 37 seconds, and their demands will not be small in 2013.  I'd love to be wrong about this.
3. The Eurozone finally blows up.  Austerity economics in Europe are finally going to cath up with them in 2012.  European countries will be in recession, and if things get bad enough, it's Global Financial Crisis time again.  It could weigh very heavily on the economy.
4. At least one GOP candidate, somewhere in America, will refer to President Obama with the N-word.  It will happen.  It just has to.  Most likely it will be some state-level douchebag, but I wouldn't be surprised if it slips out at a Congressional or even GOP Oval Office candidate level staffer.  But this, I feel confident of.
5. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be driven from power.  There's just too much bloodshed and anger at this point.  I'm not sure how long the road will be, and over how many Syrian corpses it will travel, but it will happen.  He has lost the right to rule.
6. There will be a military incident on the Iran-Iraq border.  No brainer, especially with US fighting troops gone.  And the Saudis and Israelis will have kittens when it happens.
7. The GOP will shut down the Federal government.  It may be just a partial one, but it'll happen, especially if there's good economic news and/or POTUS starts pulling ahead in the polls.  They will literally go for broke.
8. 2012 will be a record box-office year.  Just too many good films out for 2012, and a lot of people will be looking for an escape.
9. The push for Sarah Palin as the GOP VP candidate will be massive, but she won't be the choice.  I still think it'll be Chris "Bag O Donuts" Christie, but if the GOP were smart, it would be Huntsman on the ticket for anyone but Romney, and Romney will take Christie.
10. We'll still here end of next year.  Bon and I have been busy as hell this year, and we're both writing for other blogs (and Bon has an awesome side project in Dead Shuffle).  But ZVTS is our baby, and we're going to raise the little tyke right through year four.

We'll see how I manage.  Into the Future files you go.