It is far less known that the Obama Administration created a “We the People” petition system. Any petition initiated by an ordinary citizen that garners 25,000 signatures within 30 days, requires an official White House response. Needless to say, White House staff had to deal with a lot of petitions including those concerning Piers Morgan and MPAA chief Chris Dodd.
But the most hilarious one is for sure the petition created on Nov. 14, 2012, demanding that the Obama Administration “secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.” It earned 34,435 signatures, more than enough to force a White House response, which was posted to the White House Petitions website. Paul Shawcross, Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget, responded as follows.
“The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn’t on the horizon.”
Citing a Lehigh University study that calculated that a Death Star would cost a deficit-exploding $852,000,000,000,000,000 ($852 quadrillion), Shawcross notes that "the Obama Administration does not support blowing up planets."
He also points out that it would be foolhardy to build a space station "with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship."
He concludes by encouraging the petitioners to pursue a career in a science, technology, or math-related field, declaring that anyone who does so embraces the power of the Force: "Remember, the Death Star’s power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force." Ita est!
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