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Even if You Can't Schlep, Talk to Your Grandparents About Obama
YOUNG OBAMA VOTERS: TELL YOUR ELDERS "DO IT FOR ME!"
This message is exclusively for Obama supporters who: 1) Have grandparents who are planning to vote for John McCain or are undecided about their choice for President and 2) Know someone whose grandparents are voting for John McCain or are undecided about their choice for President.
Even before comedian Sarah Silverman made her hilarious video encouraging young Jewish Obama supporters to blackmail "Papa and Nana" into voting for Obama by threatening to withhold a visit, I have been urging younger voters to save the deep policy discussions and simply tell their elders to "Do it for me!" I'd like to claim full credit, but this was an idea brought to me by Bill Payne of New Jersey, brother of my colleague, Congressman Donald Payne.
As soon as he said it, I saw the potential of this idea. I have been overwhelmed and inspired by the passion and commitment of young Obama volunteers and supporters everywhere I have traveled as one of the national co-chairs of Barack's campaign. Harnessing that energy for the purpose of moving older voters toward Barack Obama seemed like a natural.
Oh sure, there are plenty of good and substantive arguments why anyone over age 65 is a fool to vote for John McCain, who supports the Bush plan of privatizing Social Security, for crying out loud. Many seniors actually are crying out loud because the plummeting stock market has taken such a big bite out of their retirement investments. Imagine the desperation they would feel if even a part of their Social Security had been dependent on the stock market. It is not a pretty picture.
On top of risking the "security" part of Social Security, John McCain plans to pay, in part, for his foolish health care proposal by taking money from Medicare and Medicaid, much of which goes to pay the cost of nursing home care. The goofy McCain plan is not just "more of the same" as Bush's, it is even worse. His plan would, for the very first time in history, tax as income the value of employer provided health care benefits. In exchange he would give each family a $5,000 tax credit to purchase health insurance, perhaps not noticing that the average family policy costs $12,000. Requiring seniors to help pay for this plan is nothing short of elder abuse.
One could point out that Barack Obama has pledged to protect Social Security benefits and not raise the age of eligibility, improve Medicare, especially the drug benefit, and eliminate all income taxes for seniors whose income is $50,000 or less. Get it? Eliminate your taxes. Such a deal!
But let's face it. There are still older people who, for all kinds of reasons - some they can articulate and some that probably shouldn't be said out loud - are still "not comfortable" voting for Barack Obama. You can intelligently make all of the rational arguments and probably still won't convince them.
I am suggesting that you save you breath. The one thing most grandparents have in common is that they have the most wonderful grandchildren in the world - so clever, so handsome, so pretty, ever so precious. Even if you are still unsure of your path in life, and even if your parents and friends occasionally wonder about you, your grandma and grandpa love you and have faith in you.
That is your weapon! "Precious" needs to get on the phone and say, "Grandpa, Grandma, I am asking you to vote for Barack Obama. This is really important to me. It's about my future. It's about the world I will be living in. It's about the world I want for my future children. (They will love that one!) Please! Do it for me!"
Put some urgency in your voice. Sound very disappointed in them if they give you excuses. Come back again, even harder. "This is about my future - my ability to get a good job, to live a healthy life, to have the same (or even more) opportunities than you had to succeed. I have never felt more strongly about anything. I am begging you to vote for Barack Obama. I need you to do this for me!"
This is just a sample script. You know what it takes to get to them. You've probably been doing it all your life. But never before has your exalted position of Grandchild been as important and productive as it can be right now.
The really great part of this strategy is that everything you could possibly say to your grandparents about how important Barack's election is for you is one hundred percent true. The most important reason to convince them to vote for Barack Obama is that your future really does depend on it. Give them a call right now. Do it for yourself!
Pass this message on.
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Tell them Jan! We love you hear, great idea! Use the "I'm your favorite grandchild" rule! I love it!
If talking does not work, hide their car keys come election day
Not a problem, here. All my kids, my parents and even my 96 year old grandmother are Obama voters. My grandmother has said repeatedly over the past 8 years that GWB is the WORST president in her memory and she's sharp as a tack. For the record, she's also been warning of a "depression" for the past year. Said that it's been "feeling" the same as it did prior to the '29 crash for quite some time.
Tell them if they vote for McCain those birthday checks they send in the mail will have to be much, MUCH larger.
Who knows, there may be no money left for the Werthers.
Tell them if they vote for McCain they'll pay lower taxes on their capital gains and those birthday checks CAN be much bigger.
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"He was my knight in shining armor," says Mary, smiling. She paid the 103 dollars after she arrived in Norway . At that time Obama had finished his job as a community worker* in Chicago , and had started his law studies at prestigious Harvard university.
In the spring of 2006 Mary's parents had heard that Obama was considering a run for president, but was undecided. They wrote a letter in which they told him that he would receive their votes. They also thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier.
In a letter to Mary's parents dated May 4th, 2006 and stamped ' United States Senate, Washington DC ', Barack Obama wriote**:
'I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I'm happy I could help back then, and I'm delighted to hear tha t your daughter is happy in Norway . Please send her my best wishes. Sincerely, Barack Obama , United States senator'.
The parents sent the letter on to Mary.
This week VG met Mary and her husband in the café that she runs with her friend Lisbeth Tollefsrud in Åsgårdstrand. "It's amazing to think that the man who helped me 20 years ago may now become the next US president," says Mary delightedly.
From Norwegian newspaper VG today's edition (translated from Norwegian)
ÅSGÅRDSTRAND (VG): Mary was a newlywed moving to Norway in November 1988, but was stopped at the airport because she didn't have money to ship her bags. Then a stranger turned up and paid for her.
Mary Menth Andersen was flying to meet her Norwegian groom, Dag Andersen in Åsgårdstrand in Vestfold. But first she had to get her belongings to Norway .
The Miami airport it was hectic... When it was Mary's turn she got the message..."You'll have to pay a $103 surcharge to bring those suitcases ." Mary was broke. Her husband had travelled ahead of her to Norway , and she had no one else to call. Mary says, "I was desperate."
"I started to cry, tears poured down. I was at a loss. Then I heard a gently friendly voice behind me say, 'That's OK, I'll pay for her.'" Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before. His voice was firm and decisive, yet kind. "The first thing I thought was, Who is this?"
This happened 20 years ago, but Mary remembers the authority radiating from the man who was "nicely, fashionably dressed with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants."
She re-paid the stranger right away. The slip of paper with the man's name she kept in her wallet for years. It said 'Barack Obama.'
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