Mark Steyn looks at 2010 and what Obama has up his sleeve...

OBAMA'S PLAN FOR 2010: THE FIVE ACES UP HIS SLEEVE

MARK STEYN:

I'll Have A Blue Dog Christmas Without You [Mark Steyn]

Kathryn, re your Facebook friend who asks, "Can we officially retire the phrases 'blue dog' democrats and 'pro life' democrats? Because there is no such thing:"

As I wrote back in the summer, "Put not your trust in Blue Dog Democrats." It was folly to bet the Republic on the likes of Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln and other "moderates" who are, by definition, trimmers and accommodationists.

By contrast, Barney Frank and the more ambitious Dems are thinking long-term. And, if it's a choice between getting government health care or keeping Ben Nelson, it's no contest. Not to keep quoting myself ad nauseam, but as I said to Hugh Hewitt a couple of months back:

I think the administration is willing to take the hit. In other words, to get health care, they would be willing to reduce their majority, and perhaps even lose their majority in the House and the Senate, because they know it’s a game changer. Now to sell that to individual Senators and Congressmen, you’ve got to have something up your sleeve for them... There are strange elements in play here. But they’ve factored into the whole business a potential, I think, a potential significant loss in the year 2010, in next year’s elections.

I'LL REPEAT STEYN'S KEY INSIGHT:

Now to sell that to individual Senators and Congressmen, you’ve got to have something up your sleeve for them...

AND THIS TELLS ME NOT THAT THEY ARE WILLING TO TAKE SOME BIG DEFEATS IN 2010, BUT THAT THEY HAVE FIVE ACES UP THEIR SLEEVES:

WHAT'RE THE FIVE ACES UP OBAMA-RAHM-AXELROD-JARRETT'S SLEEVE?

• 1 - THE AS YET UNSPENT PART OF THE STIMULUS; THEY WILL SPEND IT TO HELP THOSE WHO HELP THEM. THIS WAS THE WHOLE PLAN FROM THER START; IT WAS ALWAYS INTENDED AS A POLITICAL SLUSH FUND FOR THE MACHINE.)
  
• 2 - ACORN/SEIU/UAW-GM: THEY WILL GET THEIR GOONS OUT IN FORCE: INTIMIDATING THE GOP AND REGISTERING DEAD PEOPLE.
  
• 3 - ERIC HOLDER AND BOB BAUER COORDINATING AN ELECTORAL ATTACK ON THE GOP AND DEFENSE OF SEIU/ACORN/UAW/ AND THE NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY
• 4 - THE GENERAL EXPECTATION THAT UNEMPLOYMENT WILL BE COMING DOWN
• 5 - MICHELLE GETTING PREGNANT. (THIS ACE THEY'D RATHER PLAY IN 2011-12, BUT THEY WILL USE IT IF NECESSARY).

IT WILL BE A BATTLE ROYALE.

BUT ONE THE PEOPLE WILL WIN.

YES: DESPITE THE CHICAGO MACHINE'S ALINSKY STRATEGY, WE WILL HAVE A GOP CONGRESS IN 2010.