It is April 15, 2012, and I am already making several political predictions for 2012 and 2016. As a visiting professor at DeVry, I teach several US history classes. Therefore, these predictions are more than just my personal guesses. My first prediction is that Barack Obama will win the upcoming election this fall. It won’t be difficult to win against the candidate that likes the size of trees in Michigan among other things.

If you question my ability with political predictions, I predicted that Obama would win in 2008 a long time before he was even nominated as the Democratic nominee for president. This photo, along with hundreds more I took in Gary, IN on his campaign.

As for 2016, Hillary Clinton will run against Rick Santorum and win. Granted it is unheard of a candidate winning a 4-year term after an 8-year term of a president of the same party. Add that to the fact that she would be the first women running on a major party to be president. In less than a decade, America voted and elected its first black president and will also elect its first woman president. Nevertheless, you can put your money on this horse race…and both Clinton and you will win.

Hillary Clinton		Rick Santorum

Republicans, in recent history, have had the nice gesture of nominating the next in line as a presidential candidate. The runner-up to the candidate for president becomes the next in line 4-years later. For example, the Michigan tree-lover ran against John McCain and lost. It is a type of nominating succession in which the loser gets a chance the next time. It is both polite and makes little or no sense. If the person couldn’t beat the candidate from his party, why would they assume that he could win in a national election?

Santorum ran in 2012, at least initially, with some vague hope that he was the second-coming of something. However, as the tree-lover lumbered on and on, it was apparent that Santorum wasn’t going to beat him. Facing defeat in the primary in Pennsylvania by a sizeable percent and not wanting to have that percentage tied to the 18% of his loss for his reelection as a senator for Pennsylvania, Santorum needed to exit the campaign against the Michigan tree-lover. If I am correct about my predictions, it reinforces the Republican notion that the loser succeeds in getting the nomination after losing it first.

If I am correct about Santorum, I am also correct about Clinton. It reminds me of the old Latin saying, Alea iacta est ("the die has been cast"). Julius Caesar uttered those words as he crossed the River Rubicon on his way to Rome on January 10, 49 BCE. Instead of a great battle between Caesar, Pompey, and Optimates, on November 8, 2016, there will be a great battle between Clinton and Santorum. If I were Clinton, I would be preparing now for my inaugural speech. In fact, I already have the title: Veni, Vidi, Vici. (Latin for I came, I saw, I conquered) Interestingly, she will be giving that address at her inauguration on my birthday, January 20, 2017.

Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does."

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