On October 13th of last year, I posted a “What If” piece contrasting what would happen if Obama were elected versus Mitt.  Here’s what I said would be the reality if Obama were re-elected:

…this country continues to escalate toward deeper divisions. In spite of the Democrats retaining control of the Senate, there will be no progress in 4 years, the economy will continue to be Japan-like in perpetual shadow, and the Republicans will win overwhelmingly in 2016, likely with Jeb Bush as President. However, the one thing we’ll be able to say in 2016 is that we extricated ourselves from two bottomless-pit wars in the Middle East, and the countries in that region still simmer but haven’t erupted into full scale war. Ehud Barak will be the next Prime Minister, and Bibi will – once again – be put out to pasture. Only Kim Young-Un, the chubby and hapless child leader of North Korea, will still be the only nuclear “threat”, and life will go on.

So what actually occurred in this first year of Barry O’s administration?  Thus far, I was right about the economy and the Dems retaining control of the Senate (remember: I wrote this before the election last November, so kudos are in order here, thank you very much..).  I still believe the Republicans will win in 2016, with a middle of the roader candidate because the current administration will continue to deteriorate.  We will have extricated ourselves from Iraq and Afghanistan, but what’s happening in Syria could hardly be called ‘simmering’, so points off there.  Wrong about Barak – Bibi is stronger than ever and Ehud was the one put out to pasture.  You know how I think that’ll turn out if you’ve read previous posts…and so far the young’un isn’t much of a threat and Iran will continue to either deteriorate and then go nuclear, or find common ground with Bibi and Barack, and go semi-nuclear. At this point, that’s as likely as Erik winning the lottery, particularly since he almost never buys tickets.

So then I wrote this about if Mittens won:

The least of our issues is that we will have a Republican President, a Republican House of Representatives full of tea party supporters that want to dismantle the country back to the 18th Century, and a Republican majority in the Senate because the Vice President votes in case of tie. What will come of that?

The Tea Party will be transcendent. There will be a significant amount of legislation coming out of the House and failed to be blocked in the Senate in the following areas:

Health Care – kill the Affordable Care Act and replace it with – nothing.

Abortion – ban all forms of abortion with no exceptions – this will get thru as a function of Catholic Democrats, and Romney will be faced with a crisis of the first magnitude – will he sign or veto? He’ll sign. Planned Parenthood and a dozen other entities will file suit, and after 3 years, the law will be found to be unconstitutional. Just in time for the next election.

The Fiscal Cliff – the economy will go into recession, which Romney will blame on the policies of his predecessor. There will be no more global trade, with sanctions ratcheted up beyond anything Smoot-Hawley enacted. This incites a breakdown in all communication between the U.S., China, Europe and Russia. We will emerge from a crippled four years, just in time for Romney to attempt another 4 years, and the Presidency will be won by a Democrat to be named. But that Democrat will inherit a very bad world indeed.

What about the Middle East? Bibi Netanyahu now has an ally in the White House. This will embolden him to force Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, which everyone knows are deep underground and hardened to withstand just an attack. Ehud Barak will resign from the government, and emigrate to the U.S., knowing what is coming.

So what about all that?  Well, ironically, most of this stuff is, in fact, happening even with Barry O at the putative helm.  The Tealiban continues to have its way, having succeeded in shutting down the government and nearly causing a world-wide catastrophe with their ignorant lurching toward default.   The Affordable Care Act is toast, not as a function of the Tealiban’s actions, but because the government is incapable of developing software on the scale attempted.  Abortion is effectively banned in Texas, with the appeals court allowing it to happen, colluding in the attempt to get the Supremes to overturn Roe.  Eddie Snowden’s “defection” to Russia and his revelations about NSA spying on world leaders has significantly alienated us from China, Europe and Russia.   Bibi has effectively mounted an attack on Iran, not with missiles but with rhetoric designed to keep Barry O from negotiating with Rouhani long enough for Iran to implode (again, see previous posts on that topic).

Isn’t it ironic, dontcha think?  A little tooo ironic..As always, gentle readers, the soothsayer says what is so..but not soothing.