"Do it for me!"

HuffPost has been running a couple of articles lately about young people getting their grandparents to vote for Obama, after Sarah Silverman made a video about getting Jewish grandparents to vote for Obama. Your strongest weapon, they say, is their love for you. They trust you, have faith in you. Well, that's all fine and good, but...isn't that coercion? Aren't you taking advantage of that love, and aren't you appealing to emotion, which is exactly what the Republican Party is criticized for doing?

The articles don't discourage you from talking about issues, but the most mention I've heard so far is why it's not only a win for you, but a win for seniors too. But they don't tell you talk to your grandparents about that. But shouldn't you? Shouldn't you try to appeal to your grandparents' sense of reason, rather than emotion? That's what Barack Obama himself is saying at rallies - John McCain doesn't want to talk about issues; he wants to talk about slime and hate and fear. This isn't exactly the same, I realize, but it's like a crappy advertisement. Don't buy this product because it's good for you, or because it works, buy it because this commercial makes you feel good.

I don't like it. I'd rather talk to my grandparents about the issues - that's more fun than begging and pleading for a sympathy vote anyway. "If you really loved me, you'd vote for Obama." I couldn't say that to my grandparents. "Do it for my future!" What about my grandparents' future? That's important too, and if I can prove to them that a vote for Obama is a vote for their own futures, then isn't that more valuable, more truthful, more rewarding?