What should be Barack Obama’s resolutions for the New Year once he takes office? He needs to look no further than his transition Website, Change.gov, where more than 74,031 people have submitted more than 53,369 questions (and counting) for his administration and voted 3,122,015 times to prioritize the questions in a Digg-like fashion.
Part of his Open Government initiatives, the Open for Questions part of the site is powered by Google Moderator. (You need to sign in with a Google account to ask questions or vote).
Below are ten of the top questions culled from different topic sections (economy, national security, science and technology, healthcare, etc.). Obama’s resolutions for the new year should be to answer them.
1. “What strategies other than bailouts can we employ to keep jobs in America?” (Economy)
2. “How do we unlink from our addiction to fossil fuels?” (Economy)
3. “When will President Obama start doing drawback of the Service Members (troops) from Iraq and Afghanistan? It becomes a stress on the families, the soldiers and divorce rates are high.” (Foreign Policy)
4. “What will the Obama administration [do] to create a fair, balanced diplomatic resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?” (Foreign Policy)
5. “Will President Obama eliminate domestic warrantless wiretapping of US citizens by modifying the “Terrorist Surveillance Program” (TSP)? Is the Fourth Amendment going to be restored, or weakened further by the Obama Administration?” (National Security)
6. “Our current war on drugs is failing America. Billions of dollars are spent on a losing campaign. Our prisons are overflowing with people that don’t deserve to be there. What is the government going to do in an effort to fix this major problem?” (National Security)
7. “How will the Obama Administration encourage the future generations of Americans to become the worlds leading scientists and engineers?” (Science And Technology)
8. “During the campaign Mr. Obama stated that he would appoint a government Chief Technology Officer. This seemed to me a very good idea; when we will learn more about this and how we can help with this endeavor?” (Science And Technology)
9. “no child left behind is a dismal failure. how can we create a real education act, with proper funding, to make students creative, life-long learners instead of teaching to a test?” (Education)
10. “What will your administration do to provide truly universal, affordable healthcare for all US citizens, regardless of employment status?” (Healthcare)
And here are five more bonus questions:
1. “Please do something about the cost of prescription drugs!” (Healthcare)
2. “What is the stance of the Obama administration on making college tuition tax deductible? (Education)
3. “How does the Obama administration plan on addressing the urgent need for Net Neutrality legislation? Vague platitudes mean nothing when the nature of the most powerful network in human history is at stake.” (Science And Technology)
4. “Does your administration plan to stop or at least reduce the federal subsidies to the oil and gas industry and apply these to alternative energy sources?” (Energy and Environment)
5. “Why are we continuing to use taxpayer money for the bad policy of subsidizing and mandating ethanol production from corn? It does nothing to reduce our fossil fuel usage (many scientists say that it increases usage) and it drives up food prices.” (Energy and Environment)
