Three hard reasons, plus Sandy, to vote Obama

Three hard reasons - realities, actually - why I am voting for President Obama.

1. I was always going to vote for him, even before the Republican primaries showed that the GOP didn't have a serious candidate, or a serious platform.

2. My vote this year, for the first and I hope the last time, is also against a candidate for President of the United States, who defamed me directly. He said a) the 47 percent will always vote for Obama, and b) the 47 percent pay no taxes. Those statements, taken together, defame me, damage my reputation. I could never become a party to that.

3. The dynamics of an Obama victory present the best chance for national recovery in the next four years. He becomes what the Republicans have always wanted: a one-term president. The GOP turns to the 2016 election, when, at last, it can offer a selection of reasonable candidates. The GOP decides to work with Obama to create success in 2013-2016, then take credit for that success in the 2015-16 campaign, most likely against Hillary Clinton. In the process, the new GOP pragmatism grinds the tea party into dust. By 2015, the national recovery has profited enormously, the GOP has something to brag about, and the tea party is no more. This is, I believe, my single best reason to vote for Obama.

I said three reasons, but the Sandy story presents one more. The Sandy disaster became a metaphor for the Bush disaster. Both disasters came, they devastated, they left, they couldn't be undone. Recovery is the only option, and recovery from major disasters is always slow. Victims have only one way to go: forward - "Forward," as Obama's signs say - one step at a time. I empathize with them, and I will vote that way tomorrow.