Tom Piatak

January 01, 2009

I have little to add to the intelligent predicitons offered by Richard Spencer, John Zmirak, and Jack Hunter. Those who are right about America’s condition will continue to be ignored and marginalized, and those who are wrong will continue to dominate our national discourse.  Obama will continue George Bush’s free spending ways, and then some, but the the American people will blame Bush for our economic woes, partly because the media will continue to serve as Obama’s cheerleader.  The left will continue to make progress in remaking America in its image, while the “mainstream conservative” opposition continues to ignore, belittle, or mishandle important cultural and social issues.  The United States will continue spending money we don’t have to inject ourselves in conflicts that are none of our concern, despite the preference of most Americans for a foreign policy more in line with George Washington’s than George Bush’s.  I also suspect that John Paul Stevens will finally resign from the Supreme Court, giving Obama a chance to place another leftist on the Supreme Court, and that most Senate Republicans will roll over and play dead, as they did for Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

Since all of this is rather gloomy, I will go out on a limb and make an optimistic prediction.  Being a lifelong Cleveland sports fan gives me little reason for optimism.  I was ten months old the last time a Cleveland team won a championship, when the Browns beat the Colts to win the NFL championship in 1964.  Since that time, Cleveland teams have either been awful—as the Indians were throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s and the Browns have been since the franchise returned in 1999—or prone to losing in spectacular, heartbreaking fashion.  But this year I predict that LeBron James will lead the Cavaliers to win the NBA Championship (and win the NBA MVP honors he should have won last year).  James is the most dominating Cleveland athlete of my lifetime—I am too young to remember Jim Brown—and he knows that great athletes lead their teams to championship victories.  This will be the first year LeBron does that.