President Obama launched Open for Questions,” a two-way dialogue between the Transition team and the Change.gov community which was extremely well-received with more than 20,000 people casting nearly 1,000,000 votes on over 10,000 questions posed by the community.

During the second round, Change.gov decided to leave the voting open significantly longer which yielded some phenomenal results…..103,512 people submitted 76,031 questions and cast 4,713,083 votes. 

The Open for Questions program demonstrates President Obama’s belief using technology to foster a user-friendly way for American citizens to communicate with the White House. This is a first and certainly a significant contrast between the incoming Obama Administration and the outgoing (yea!) Bush Crime Family.

Below is a video of incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs speaking about some of the more popular questions addressed previously by the President-elect or Vice President-elect that haven’t been as specifically addressed during the Transition.

“Previously Addressed Questions”
These popular questions have been answered previously by top officials or in the prior edition of “Open for Questions.”

“Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?”—Bob Fertik, New York City

Vice President-elect Biden, 12/21/08: “[T]he questions of whether or not a criminal act has been committed or a very, very, very bad judgment has been engaged in is—is something the Justice Department decides.  Barack Obama and I are—President-elect Obama and I are not sitting thinking about the past. We’re focusing on the future… I’m not ruling [prosecution] in and not ruling it out. I just think we should look forward. I think we should be looking forward, not backwards.”

“What will President Obama do to bring about an independent Palestinian state and bring an end to the violence in the West Bank and Gaza?”—Katherine, Virginia

President-Elect Obama, 1/5/09: “I am not backing away at all from what I said during the campaign that starting at the beginning of the administration we are going to engage effectively and consistently in trying to resolve the conflicts that exist in the Middle East. That is something that I am committed to—I think it is not only right for the people in that region, most importantly it is right for the national security of the American people and the stability that is so important to this country. So on January 20th you will be hearing directly from me and my opinions on this issue. Until then my job is to monitor the situation and to put together the best possible national security team to hit the ground running once we are responsible for national security.”

“I’m concerned about the banks who received tax payers money and have had no accountability. Will this be corrected after President-elect Obama is in office?” —Dorothy, Tucson Az

Open for Questions Response, 12/15/08: “President-elect Barack Obama does not believe an economic crisis is an excuse for wasteful and unnecessary spending. As our economic team works with congressional leadership to put together a plan, we will put in place reforms to ensure that your money in invested well. We will also bring Americans back into government by amending executive orders to ensure that communications about regulatory policymaking between persons outside government and all White House staff are disclosed to the public. In addition all appointees who lead the executive branch departments and rulemaking agencies will be required to conduct the significant business of the agency in public so that every citizen can see in person or watch on the Internet these debates.”

“Will you consider legalizing cannabis/marijuana/hemp so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a multi-billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?”—DJ C, Chicago, IL