1) The Dems will keep the Senate, the GOP will keep the House in November.
Blew it. This was a long shot, but I didn't know just how long it was. The Dems failed miserably here for a variety of reasons: terrible candidates who tied themselves in knots running away from Obama, garbled messaging, lousy campaigns, and a Democratic base that doesn't vote in midterms. In fact, Dems bailed so hard on voting that the polls were off by six to eight points in most races, and that turned close races into easy wins, and easy GOP wins into complete routs. It's as much our fault as it is the Democrats', and I won't make that mistake in predicting we'll vote in 2018, should ZVTS get that far.
We just don't care anymore as an electorate in midterm years, it seems.
2) Google Glass will be delayed until 2015, or later.
Nailed it. At best this tech is a niche application for niche users in niche fields. It'll be a long time before something like Glass is widespread among consumers.
3) Alison Lundergan Grimes would beat Mitch McConnell to be the next Senator from KY.
Blew it. In fact, no Dem ran a worse 2014 campaign than Grimes, who bungled things so badly she lost to a guy with a 35% approval rating by sixteen points. Her absolute refusal to say she voted for Obama cost her everything, she refused to run on Kynect as a national model for Obamacare success, and it's important to note that even the Clintons coming out to rally for her did absolutely nothing...and may have actually hurt her even more.
4) And speaking of the Clintons, Hillary won't announce any run for 2016...at least not in 2014.
Nailed it. As I said, too cagey to tip her hand in 2014. I expect this to continue for as long as she can get away with it in 2015, because as Jeb Bush is finding out, there's nowhere to go as front-runner except down.
5) Marvel will continue their movie hot streak in 2014
Nailed it. Not only was I right about all three Marvel films I predicted would make $200 million domestically (Amazing Spider-Man 2 barely did it, but did it) but if I had remembered X-Men: Days of Future Past in my prediction, it would have been the fourth Marvel franchise film to break the $200 million mark in 2014. Big Hero 6 is the movie I left out of that $200 million club for a reason, but it squeaked over the $200 million line by the end of the year anyway. That's five $200 million plus films just domestically, guys. Marvel is the biggest player in Hollywood right now.
And yes, this means I was right about Guardians of the Galaxy. Going to enjoy that for a bit. I'm going to enjoy Marvel in 2015 too. More about that tomorrow...
6) The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on same-sex marriage later in 2014, but the decision won't come until 2015.
Jury's still out. Like a lot of people, I might add, nobody expected SCOTUS to punt on same-sex marriage, but punt they did. Since then, Michigan and Louisiana are asking for direct rulings from the Supreme Court on this issue, and the Sixth Circuit has upheld state bans with several other circuits striking them down. There's still a chance that the Supreme Court could take up these cases in January and have a decision by June, or take up the case next fall.
7) No impeachment measures in 2014, but 2015 will be a different story.
Nailed it. If the GOP is going to impeach, 2015 will be the year. The GOP is trying to do everything they can short of it, but eventually somebody's going to bring up articles for a vote.
8) Obamacare will be around through 2014 and beyond.
Nailed it. But 2015 will be a radically different story if SCOTUS kills subsidies in federal exchange states. It will make insurance pretty unaffordable for millions and could even put families on the hook for billions in back payments, which will be an utter disaster.
Of course, that's the point.
9) The Sochi Winter Olympics will be a disaster.
Nailed it. Sochi was, by any conceivable metric, only the start of the worst year of Vladimir Putin's life. The Sochi Games were rightfully mocked and the venues were a joke. We got a close look at how rotten the Russian economy was, and falling oil prices have all but wrecked Moscow.
10) ZVTS will make it to 2015.
Nailed it. I'm glad to still be here, and I'm back over at Balloon Juice to boot.
So my final score for the year, 7 right, 2 wrong (albeit BIG wrongs) and one big SCOTUS question mark. Much better than 2013's numbers, for sure.
I'll have my predictions for 2015 out tomorrow, as usual.
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