The White House and Google teamed up and asked viewers to ask video questions on Youtube. The promoters mislead the public by announcing that President Obama would personally answer the questions that got the most votes from the Youtube viewers. The following video question submitted by a retired Deputy Sheriff had the most video votes and the second most votes of all video and text questions:
“Mr. President, my name is Stephen Downing, and I’m a retired deputy chief of police from the Los Angeles Police Department. From my 20 years of experience I have come to see our country’s drug policies as a failure and a complete waste of criminal justice resources. According to the Gallup Poll, the number of Americans who support legalizing and regulating marijuana now outnumbers those who support continuing prohibition. What do you say to this growing voter constituency that wants more changes to drug policy than you have delivered in your first term?”
Despite getting the most votes of any video question, Obama refused to answer the question, again for the second year in a row. Here’s the winner of the 2011 video question contest and Obama’s non-answer answer.
