I should take advantage of the miserable predictions I make. This email comes from a reader...

I'm hoping that "one" of your political predictions will be correct and Hillary drops out next Wednesday.

Yes, if only "one" of my predictions come true. However, I think I am now prepared to make my boldest prediction yet, several months in advance: John McCain will be the nation's 44th president.

Although this is shaping up to be a democratic year, that line tends to be murky for presidential races. Even if the good guys pick up twenty seats in the House and five in the Senate, that doesn't mean it will be an easy win for Obama or Clinton.

Racialism will come into play if Obama is the candidate, and male chauvinism if the candidate ends up being Clinton. It will not be that easy to wipe away generations of division in this country, especially when the opponent can be considered a centrist. A white, male centrist, at that.

I sincerely hope I am wrong with this prediction, but the way that I see it, and the way that this election may play out -- imagine Tim Russert grilling Obama with Iraq hypotheticals in a debate -- I am going to predict a McCain presidency, just to be safe. That way, the result won't break my heart (again).

I will concede that the nation could do worse than McCain, for one, the sitting lame duck, but as we can see in the candidacies of Clinton and Obama, the country could do much, much better. That doesn't mean it's going to happen though. (Prepare for heartbreak, is all I'm suggesting.)

Labels: 2008