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It’s the end of 2009, the “aughts” are over, and we are about to embark on a new year — and what else are they but the “aughts”? Well, besides mostly a horrible and thankfully passed decade. In any case, we are at the end of the year and that means two things: lists about this year and predictions for the next

There is on YouTube an hilarious video , drawn from C-SPAN2, of Max Baucus on the Senate floor denouncing his Republican colleagues and even more emphatically the Republican leadership for squelching attempts at what he piously describes as bipartisan healthcare reform.

ACORN’s friends, with a fresh court ruling backing the organization, are finding new ways to send taxpayer dollars to it.  The Weekly Standard exposed an amendment offered by Sen. Rolland Burris (D-IL), President Obama’s replacement in the Senate, to the main piece of legislation enacting ObamaCare. Specifically, Burris’ amendment would require an “Office of Minority Health” be established in several different agencies. On page 241 of the amendment (yes, the amendment is over 241 pages): In carrying out this subsection, the Secretary … shall award grants, contracts … with public and nonprofit private entities, agencies, as well as Departmental and Cabinet agencies and organizations, and with organizations that are indigenous human resource providers in communities of color. … Such measures shall evaluate community outreach activities, language services, workforce cultural competence, and other areas as determined by the Secretary . Can you say ‘ACORN?’ Additionally, according to the Weekly Standard, the original bill itself contains language creating funding opportunities for “community and consumer-focused nonprofit groups” to “conduct public education activities to raise awareness of the availability of qualified health plans.” And what if another judge overturned Judge Nina Gershon’s ruling declaring the congressional action to ‘defund’ ACORN?  They needn’t worry: funding provided by the health care legislation would go through exchanges, which aren’t covered by the ‘Defund ACORN’ bill. Whew!  That was close, wasn’t it ACORN?!? This all underscores the fact that like the stimulus bill, socialized medicine is just another giveaway to liberal groups.  That’s change we can believe in!

The socialist wing of the Democratic Party must have thought the brass ring was within its grasp when Barack Obama was elected president, a larger Democratic majority was returned to the House and a filibuster-proof majority was secured in the Senate. But with the exception of massive new spending, little, if anything, has been delivered to satisfy the liberal base of the party.  Health care reform is a perfect example.  When the political stars began to align, leftists began moving swiftly to enact their agenda.  After all, a government takeover of health care has long been the ultimate goal for the socialist base of the party. Despite polls that show solid majorities of Americans opposed to ObamaCare, Congressional Democrats trudge ahead.  Common sense would say they should pull the plug, in order to appease voters. But special interest groups, such as the Service Employees International Union, have sent members of Congress out to battle and ordered them not to return without victory scalps.  Consider what SEIU president Andy Stern wrote in the November 10 th Washington Post : They will be judged for what they deliver. If at the end of the day Americans can’t afford health care or if the standard of care declines, every single Democratic senator will pay the price.  And Robert Creamer, arguably the architect of the political campaign to obtain socialized medicine, made a similar statement on a talk radio show March 18, 2008: We need a national movement that says to these members of Congress, if they don’t deliver what we want, you’re not going back. That national movement already exists, in the form of Healthcare for America Now, which is led by ACORN and SEIU. It’s been putting enormous pressure on Congress to support Obamacare,  complete with a robust “public option” and nothing less.  But perhaps another statement by Stern in his Post column truly sums up the situation:  Our elected leaders will be held accountable for the choices that they make. He is exactly right. The problem is, Democrats in Congress and the White House are beholden to SEIU and other entrenched interest groups that put them in power in the first place. That leaves them dangerously out of step with the majority of American voters. So Democrats are marching off the cliff for the benefit of Andy Stern and the socialist wing of the Democratic Party. At some point along the way, Democrats in Congress and the White House must have come to the conclusion that they are likely going to get butchered in next year’s mid-term election.  Author and political analyst Dick Morris has already predicted that Republicans will re-take both the House and the Senate.  Like a criminal on the verge of his third strike, Democrats are acting as though they have nothing to lose. They bow to Andy Stern, SEIU and the Democratic fringe at their own peril.

To me, one of the most disturbing – and starkly honest – one-liners that came out of the 2008 campaign was this: “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”  It was delivered by Sen. Barack Obama while rallying a crowd at the University of Missouri on October 30, 2008. That definitely was not the standard message that Obama conveyed to the masses. “Change” is a much different concept than “transforming America.” We wonder how many voters would have thought twice if they knew they were voting for a revolutionary transformation of our nation’s economy and the government’s involvement in private affairs. Like his off-the-cuff remark to Joe the Plumber about “spreading the wealth around,” Obama opened a little window into his soul with that statement. His words have proven to be prophetic. We have seen the “fundamental transformation” begin to unfold in just 11 short months, with major shifts in traditional policy. We have auto and bank bailouts, federal ownership of major corporations, a massive $787 billion stimulus package, a dangerous cap-and-trade proposal, radical health care legislation, new EPA rules, and the continued threat of card check, just to name a few examples. And the president has three years left in his term. But the frightening notion of “fundamentally transforming America” was first uttered about three months earlier. ACORNcracked.com has obtained another recording of Robert Creamer , the convicted felon who wrote the blueprint for health care reform while in prison, explaining to a talk show host about his vision for the Obama administration and the huge Democratic majority about to be elected to Congress. “If Barack Obama is elected president, then we have the opportunity to fundamentally transform American politics and the economy — progressives do – for the first time in really in my lifetime…” So far, I have been unable to find a single other reference to the idea of “fundamentally transforming” our country.  But Creamer, Obama and their entire leftist crew were probably of the same mindset. Is it possible Obama got the mantra from Creamer?  After all, in a clip that will be coming tomorrow, the talk show host mentioned above mentioned says he was talking to the right source, because “Robert Creamer knows Barack Obama.” Read about Creamer Audio Drop, Part 1 , in which he discusses the strategy for “taking it to the enemy” (ie. health insurance companies) to win a government-takeover of health care.  Glenn Beck used this recording on his December 10th Fox News broadcast, as well as his December 11th radio show.

File this one under the category of Predicable News of the Year: A Brooklyn federal judge, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, adopted the argument of hometown Congressman and ACORN apologist Jerrold Nadler that Congress’s efforts to “defund” ACORN amounted to a bill of attainder, and thus were unconstitutional. Judge Nina Gershon imposed an injunction on the Congress to prevent it from cutting off funds, according to the Wall Street Journal . The Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit in Brooklyn federal court on behalf of ACORN.  That’s curious, given that ACORN is now headquartered in Washington, DC.  Not to mention the Congressional action, of course, occured in Washington, DC. Brooklyn is home of ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis.  It’s also home to the Working Families Party, the political party co-founded by ACORN.  Brooklyn is also the district of Nadler, who runs on the Working Families ticket and has been the group’s most strident supporter in the Congress. Back in October, the American Spectator’s Matthew Vadum revealed on BigGovernment that Nadler had contacted ACORN’s attorney Arthur Z. Schwartz to “discuss the group’s legal strategy.” Is it possible Nadler could have told Schwartz something along the lines of, “have I got a federal court for you…!”  Is it? The reality is, as with ACORN’s sham “independent” investigation and subsequent report, ACORN is calling on its friends and allies in its time of need and peril.  And man, are they delivering. Bill Quigley, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, was quoted by Fox News as saying, ”It’s a resounding victory for ACORN.  I’d be surprised if the government decides to appeal.” The Obama administration, headed by an ACORN alumni and filled with ACORN alumnus, of course, won’t appeal.  And don’t expect the ACORN-friendly Democrats in Congress to do much either. One way or another ACORN will continue to find ways to latch back onto the taxpayers’ teat.  It clearly has enough friends in high places willing to help with that endeavor.

Professor Peter Dreier, an ACORN apologist who portrays himself as an independent analyst, is really anything but. As Andrew Breitbart articulated on BigGovernment November 25th, regarding a “study” Dreier produced critical of media coverage of ACORN: At the end of the piece Professor Dreier offers the following biography:  Peter Dreier, E.P Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College. Why did Professor Dreier choose to leave out the critical information regarding his advisory relationship to ACORN? Isn’t sitting on an advisory committee of ACORN the definition of a conflict of interest in writing a fair and balanced piece on the organization? In fact, Dreier has been shilling for ACORN at least since 2003 . So when Dreier proclaimed ACORN “Not Guilty” in one of his recent columns on TalkingPointsMemo , I must admit I threw up a bit in my mouth.  Some of Dreier’s most pathetic conclusions: ACORN is getting a bum rap — in the news media, among politicians, and even by some foundations. That’s the conclusion of an independent report released Monday, which acknowledged that ACORN needs to improve its management structure, but that it did not engage in illegal activities. . .Since last year, ACORN has been under attack by conservative media outlets like Fox News, Republican Party operatives, and business groups. That’s a tenuous conclusion, considering the fact that ACORN’s Las Vegas office was raided by Nevada’s Democratic Secretary of State and was put on trial by the state’s Democratic Attorney General. Additionally, ACORN’s New Orleans office was raided by Louisana’s Democratic Attorney General. But those inconvenient truths probably slipped Dreier’s mind. ACORN is now well known, but what most Americans know about it is wrong, based on controversies manufactured by the group’s long-time enemies, Drier wrote. Does he mean the pesky Democratic state officeholders who keep hauling ACORN into court? According to Dreier, the Harshbarger report is having the intended effect, providing a thin cover for ACORN’s radically liberal allies to welcome it back into the fold. After Harshbarger released his report, various progressive groups — including SEIU, People for the American Way, the Alliance for Justice, the Campaign for America’s Future, NAACP, U.S. Action, and others — expressed support for ACORN and for the recommendations in the Harshbarger report. In fact, SEIU president Andy Stern said , “What Mr. Harshbarger did find is something the media should have caught: the freelance ’sting’ operation that did so much damage to ACORN’s reputation last fall is deeply suspicious and deserving of increased scrutiny.” For those on the left, ACORN is too big and important to fail .  And with the stubborn support of Andy Stern and others, ACORN isn’t going away any time soon. “The media and Congress, which made an ill-informed rush to judgment based on incomplete or suspect evidence, should take their time to assess this report and give ACORN the impartial assessment it deserves,” Stern said. Impartial assessment? Based on what? The work of Drier and Harshbarger, two unapologetic ACORN cheerleaders? ACORN critics will only pay attention when a truly independent source, who isn’t being paid by ACORN, does a thorough investigation of the situation.