Today at 4:50 PM ET, President Obama will take questions in a Google+ Hangout. 16,514 people submitted 7,520 questions and cast 97,853 votes for what questions that they wanted President Obama to answer.
This is President Obama's second Google Plus Hangout. His first took place on January 30, 2012. On August 29, 2012, President Obama participated in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" thread. In that thread he responded to 10 questions (most of which were the most popular questions). Some of the questions that he chose to respond to were "soft-ball" questions such as,"Who's your favourite [sic] Basketball player? and "What's the recipe for the White House's beer?" At the same time he avoided several more popular questions about marijuana and the drug war.
For today, this is a list of the top ten questions by votes in favor:
1. "After all of the cut backs, we are still producing pennies, a currency that is almost never used and cost more to produce than they are worth. Why havent [sic] we followed other countries and stopped making pennies? It is an easy and small way to cut back!"
Votes in favor: 5,876
Submitted by: allhighruler, New Orleans
2. "The world spent $1735 billion on war in 2012, it would take $135 billion to totally eradicate poverty. NASAs budget is around half a penny of an individual persons tax dollar Why do we spend so much in war and so little in education and exploration?"
Votes in favor: 4341
Submitted by: drnickphd, Geelong, Australia
3. “The U.S. has fallen SHARPLY behind in education. We stand in the shadow of leaders like Finland, China, India & Singapore. Aside from “access” itself, what can we do to make Americans the best intellectuals, scientists & artists in the world?"
Votes in favor: 3115
Submitted by: carsonkahn, New York City
