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How to submit a column Cal Thomas is a conservative columnist. Bob Beckel is a liberal Democratic strategist. But as longtime friends, they can often find common ground on issues that lawmakers in Washington cannot. Today: What awaits us in the new year? Cal: Not to gloat, but I scored well on my predictions last year at this time for what was likely to happen in 2010. I got the strength of the Tea Party right, predicting a big Republican victory in the November election, while you berated them as a "tiny percentage of the electorate." You also predicted unemployment would be under 10% and falling by last month. Instead, real unemployment is much higher and looking like it will remain high through this year. Bob: Unemployment is under 10%. Yes, barely, but I'm technically right! The Tea Party was a big factor in Republican primaries but had little if any impact in the general election. It did manage to get right-wingers nominated, only to ultimately lose Senate seats in Nevada, Colorado and Delaware. In a terrible Democratic year, the Tea Party saved the Senate for the Democrats. Prediction: The Tea Party will help nominate a right-winger for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. That person will go on to be crushed by President Obama. Cal: I thought we were on 2011! I predict President Obama will try to pull a Bill Clinton and move to the middle on some issues, but it will be a short visit to the political center. The gravity of the hard left will be too much for him, and by year's end he'll be the same hard-core leftist we've had for two years. I'll predict what he will do in 2012 in next December's year-end column. Bob: Sorry to jump the gun to 2012, but I just can't wait for Obama's revenge. Cal: Obama's revenge? Sounds like a bad movie title. Then again, the last two years have felt like a bad movie that just wouldn't end, so maybe it's apt! Bob: You watch, he'll successfully move to the center in 2011 and win big politically because of it. For a preview, we've had the lame-duck session. After compromising on the tax cut/stimulus package, he got the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," and the New START treaty passed. Not bad for a "weak" president. Cal: Yet his popularity is still awfully low, which won't change much heading into his run for re-election. Which brings me to his challenger. The race for the GOP nomination will pick up steam early in the new year, of course. After much flirting with the idea, Sarah Palin will put her weight behind someone else in the GOP field who shares her values. That's right. She won't run. Instead she will bring her formidable star power to fundraising for congressional candidates and for the person who ultimately wins the nomination. Newt Gingrich will announce in February that he's running, and Mike Huckabee will decide he likes his show on Fox, the nice salary and New York apartment and not run. Bob: If you haven't noticed, the president's job approval is rising, and Sarah Palin will run. But if she gets the Republican nomination, she'll lose in a landslide. Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Mississippi's Haley Barbour are on the GOP bench. With the exception of Gingrich and Barbour, the rest would be road kill for President Obama. Cal: You're assuming clear sailing for the president. If his approval numbers dip below the 40% reported in a recent Fox News/Opinion Dynamics Poll, you'll hear rumblings about a possible primary challenge in 2012. Bob: The economy in 2011 will still be the issue, and I expect unemployment to drop below 9%. The recovery will gain momentum, and Obama's approval number will be close to 50% by year's end. There is as much of a chance of a serious primary challenge to Obama from the left as there is of you becoming a Democrat. Cal: Any predictions for the State of the Union speech? After all, it will set the tone for the new year. Bob: I expect the president to use that stage to announce a real tax reform program that will include much lower rates. But to do so, he'll have to take some tough political positions on abolishing some deductions for home mortgages and eliminating most farm subsidies. And guess what? The Republicans will go along because they've been preaching tax reform for years. To oppose it now would be foolish and transparently political. Cal: Obama embracing overall lower tax rates. That I'd like to see. What about national security issues? In Afghanistan, the president will withdraw a symbolic number of troops in July, but not enough to affect the war's outcome. He increasingly understands the consequences of going into 2012 saddled with a defeat. As a significant side note, someone will try to assassinate Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Bob: I agree with you on the troops, but not on Karzai. Here's one for you: The U.S. will lead an allied mission to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. It will set the program back years, and despite publicly condemning the U.S. and Israel, most Mideast states will quietly rejoice. Cal: I'll celebrate if that happens and even praise the president (or the Israelis). On the war in terrorism, I predict (and hope) that U.S. drones in Pakistan will take out a top al-Qaeda leader, perhaps Ayman al-Zawahiri, its No. 2. Meanwhile, despite multiple successes in thwarting another terrorist attack on our homeland — if you don't include the Fort Hood shooter — I fear one will get through and kill scores of people in 2011 with either gunfire, an exploding vest or car bomb. The country will demand a crackdown on Muslim immigrants and on construction of their schools and mosques. President Obama will be faced with an enormously important decision, and he will mostly punt. Bob: Unfortunately, I think you're right about a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, but you're wrong about Obama's reaction. He'll show extraordinary leadership, and the people will see him much as they saw him during the campaign: as the right person to lead this country at this point in American history. Cal: What about the new Republican-infused Congress? It'll start targeting government spending very quickly, and unions and liberals will scream in unison that the GOP is evil and set upon culling old people and harming children. Republicans will be predictably portrayed as uncaring and insensitive to all but the "rich." Bob: I predict you're right. Why? Because many Republicans couldn't care less about the poor and are lap dogs for the rich. Having to now share governance, the Republicans will show what they are made of. And Americans will remember why they didn't like a GOP government a few years ago. Cal: You've been sipping the Democratic National Committee Kool-Aid again. Republicans care about showing the poor how to get out of poverty. You Democrats want to send them a government check that keeps them mired in poverty. Here's a last prediction: A major celebrity will find God and change her ways. The conversion will harm her career, but improve her life. Bob: I'm not a celebrity, but I found God, and my life gets better and better after being near ruin. Whoever you're speaking of, I will pray it comes true. May you and yours have a wonderful 2011. Cal: And the same to you, Bob. May your new year be filled with lower taxes and less government spending! Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more