Looking into his crystal ball, Karl
Rove, the veteran Republican strategist and prognosticator, offered a
salvo of political, cultural and sports predictions for 2015 in his
first
Wall Street Journal column of the year.
Here are some of the highlights:
Presidential Politics: Neither Massachusetts Sen.
Elizabeth Warren nor Vice President Joe Biden will seek the Democratic
presidential nomination. Hillary Clinton will run for president.
The 2015
Ames Straw Poll will be canceled in deference to the "credibility" of the 2016 Iowa caucus.
Courts: There will be a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme
Court. The justices will decide that the Affordable Care Act doesn't
permit subsidies in states that don't have their own exchanges. And the
president's executive actions on immigration will be ruled
unconstitutional.
Congress: The House and Senate will move forward with a
surge of bipartisan legislation. Congress will pass a budget on time
for the next fiscal year. Republicans will spend more on the military
though less time at home. A conservative vision for 2016 will take shape
on issues such as entitlement and tax reform.
Barack Obama: The president will threaten to veto more
and more legislation. He will alienate Democrats on Capitol Hill because
of his obstructionism. He will be held responsible by voters for any
stalemate. Obama will play "lots more golf."
Foreign Affairs: The Islamic State will get bigger.
Talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran over its quest for nuclear
weapons will be extended endlessly or terminate in a bad deal. Cuba will
remain un-free.
Sports: Ohio State will overcome Oregon. The Seahawks will win the Super Bowl. The NFL's MVP will be Aaron Rodgers.
Hollywood: The Oscar will go to "American Sniper." Clint Eastwood will win another Oscar.
The British Royals: The Duchess and Duke of Cambridge will have a girl.
Rove takes note that not all his predictions for 2014 came to pass.
"I got 13 political prognostications right for 2014," he writes.
For example, he was spot on about the persistency of Obama's dismal
approval ratings and that Republicans would win the midterms. He
correctly saw that virtually every Republican member of Congress
"challenged as insufficiently conservative won their primaries."
The misses included having guessed wrong that Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius would hold on until the end of the year, and
that Duck Dynasty viewership would go up.
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