Can we ask another person who is more faithful than us to ask our demands from Allah ? is this Tavassol or not?(Sunni view )

There is a Hadith in Sunni sources which reads: > Narrated Anas: > > Whenever there was drought, Umar bin Al-Khattab used to ask Allah for > rain through Al-Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib, saying, "O Allah! We used > to request our Prophet to ask You for rain, and You would give us. Now > we request the uncle of our Prophet to ask You for rain, so give us > rain." And they would be given rain.ref According to that, 1 . Can we ask our demands from Allah this way? Is this a right way? 2 . Does this amount to *Tavassol* or not? ---------- ref. Sahih al-Bukhari 3710; In-book reference: Book 62, Hadith 61; USC-MSA web (English) reference : Vol. 5, Book 57, Hadith 59.