Posted on 01/16/2013 5:36:09 AM PST by upchuck
President Barack Obama’s deputies have quadrupled the number of signatures that petitioners on the administration’s “We the People” website must collect to get an official response from the White House, following a series of popular, provocative and disrespectful signature drives by his critics.
Some of the petitions sought approval for states to secede after Obama’s re-election, while others called on the White House to disavow executive orders that restrict gun rights, or to deport CNN’s British-born, progressive host Piers Morgan.
“Starting today, as we move into a second term, petitions must receive 100,000 signatures in 30 days in order to receive an official response from the Obama Administration,” said an early evening Jan. 15 statement from Macon Phillips, the White House’s digital strategy director.
“This new threshold applies only to petitions created from this point forward and is not retroactively applied to ones that already exist.”
Phillips claimed the increased threshold was caused by the increasing use of the site.
“That ‘good problem’ is only getting better, so we’re making another adjustment to ensure we’re able to continue to give the most popular ideas the time they deserve. … It’s wonderful to see so many people using We the People to add their voices to important policy debates here in Washington and bring attention to issues that might not get the attention they deserve.”
When the administration first established the petition system in September 2011, Obama’s aides promised that any petition with 5,000 signatures would receive a formal written response from White House officials. That threshold was raised to 25,000 for 2012.
The new 100,000-signature threshold follows a series of provocative, awkward or embarrassing petitions, some of which attracted enough signatures to meet the threshold set by Obama for getting a formal White House response.
Usage of the petition site has spiked since the election, partly because more than 600,000 people have signed various secession petitions.
“In the first 10 months of 2012, it took an average of 18 days for a new petition to cross the 25,000-signature threshold,” said Macon’s statement. “In the last two months of the year, that average time was cut in half to just 9 days, and most petitions that crossed the threshold collected 25,000 signatures within five days of their creation.”
Six out of 10 petitions that met the 25,000 threshold passed in November and December, said Macon.
Read the rest here: http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/16/white-house-now-requires-we-the-people-petitions-to-have-100000-signatures-for-official-response/?print=1
“This new threshold applies only to petitions created from this point forward and is not retroactively applied to ones that already exist.”
There responses are always BS. I am not convinced they worry much about any of this. I think they are raising the threshold to make us work harder, spin our wheels and consume more of our resources.
I think it is going to make it to 25,000.
Oh, my. Does that mean the gun free zone petition around obama and his family was getting too close to the 25,000? I guess he wants to make his ridiculous answers less frequent and less transparent as people make fun of him.
When you’re losing, move the goal line.
Its a fake goal line to begin with.
Online petitions have zero legal or constitutional legitimacy in our form of government.
Existing petitions are grandfathered, so this one will make it.
The response should be very interesting. Prolly worth posting here on FR.
HA! You’re cheating. You can sign the petitions just once.
Does anyone really think that a “response” will be anything more than more BS?
***
Yes, I do; signing onto such a petition just makes it a little easier for them to keep track of the dissenters.
The people have a right to petition. In reality, two is a sufficient number.
It was all an exercise in futility anyway. There was no way that Obama was going to do what any of the petitions requested unless the petition was for him to destroy the US and its economy.
Well, folks, the White house has put a new line, in the ever-shifting sands of The Oval Office of Obama.
They think that they can shut the mouths, and cramp the fingers of The People.
Time to shine!
You’re right of course. But poking Satan’s brother in the eye with a big public stick is such fun.
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