And the winners are: Top Web questions for Obama's online town hall today

(UPDATE: A full transcript of President Obama's online town hall session is now available by clicking here.)

At 8:30 a.m. Pacific, President Obama plans to stride into the East Room for the first "Open for Questions" online town hall in presidential history -- webcast live on www.whitehouse.gov. Vice President Joe Biden's chief economist, Jared Bernstein, will play moderator, reading the most popular questions posed by visitors to the website, who voted on the best queries. Then the president will take follow-up questions from a live audience of 100 teachers, nurses, small-business owners and community leaders.

Online visitors got to pose questions and vote on their favorites. With voting now closed, it's pretty clear that some advocacy groups hijacked the process. NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) clearly mobilized its members to send in questions, dominating the "budget" and "financial stability" categories with questions such as:

Would you support the bill currently going through the California legislation to legalize and tax marijuana, boosting the economy and reducing drug cartel related violence? -- Anthony, Warrington, PA   

I don't know, but does anyone really think that legalizing marijuana is the most pressing financial issue facing the country?

For the most part, though, the most popular questions read like they were written by individuals with concerns that resonate for all Americans. Take a look.

The Founding Fathers believed that there is no difference between a free society and an educated society. Our educational system, however, is woefully inadequate. How do you plan to restore education as a right and core cultural value in America? -- Takeok, Boston, MA

The laws that regulated the financial markets to prevent a Great Depression were eliminated in recent history (Glass-Stiegel, etc.). Will we see those laws reinstated to prevent this financial crisis from happening again? -- Sharnell B, Carson, CA

Do you plan on giving any incentives to people who choose to update their homes with green energy sources, such as solar panels? -- Jess H, Potomac Falls, VA   

Why can we not have a universal health care system like many European countries, where people are treated based on needs, rather than financial resources? -- Richard, SD, CA 

By the time voting closed, 91,000 people had submitted more than 103,000 questions and cast more than 3.5 million votes.

And the administration made clear it sees the Internet Town Hall as a regular feature of the Obama White House.

"It's a way for the president to do what he enjoys doing out on the road but saves on gas," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Getty Images

Comments

[Ben Masel]

"hijacked the process"

Did Obama hijack the election by mobilizing his supporters to vote in November? Then it was called called Community Organizing.

[Brandon]

This online meeting has nothing to do with saving gas. It's so the Obama doesn't look like a complete fool when live, tough questions are asked. The online meeting allows his staff to prepare responses for the president. His staff cares more about staying in power than doing the right thing, so the responses are geared to play off of your fears and immediate needs, not the long term well being of the country.

Please wake up, stop listening to what the president and his staff says, and instead look at what they have done...little of it is in our best interests long term.

[Jeremiah]

Marijuana legalization is one of the most pressing matters that faces us. What could be more important than what is causing death, destruction and ruined lives?
It is easy for some to dismiss the legalization movement. Maybe if the government hadn't already spent the money on prohibition, maybe there would be money for other things?

[CS]

PROPAGANDA FORUM!!!!

Every question the Obama team picked gives an opportunity for Obama to support his agenda.

They don't have to answer questions posed by tough journalists; they are cutting out the "Fourth Branch" that protects our freedom.

They won't answer questions from citizens that challenge their policies. Pretending to involve the citizenry; it's phony and manipulative!

PROPAGANDA FORUM!!!!

[Casey]

To answer your question "I don't know, but does anyone really think that legalizing marijuana is the most pressing financial issue facing the country?" What helped revive this country from the great depression was removing the prohibition on alcohol.(Check History) Marijuana was made illegal because of white racism against blacks. The reason?? The devil weed is luring our white women to the blacks. Now is that ridiculous or what???

[Craig]

My version of those questions:

The Founding Fathers gave Congress no power over education, so why is it even one of the categories for questions?

Wouldn't just letting the companies that made bad investments fail do a lot more to prevent them from doing it again than trying to burden successful companies with more regulations?

Why should I be asked to subsidize my neighbor's electricity bill, just because he chooses to install an inefficient "green" solution?

What will you do to restore more freedom to our health care system, to prevent it from further disintegration toward European/Canadian style socialism?

[Phillip]

are those were winning questions? What about crumbling economy and huge spending and expansion of government. Government interference in private sector. Increase taxes in weak economy. Cutting health care for military. Corrupt, do-nothing congress. Allowing AIG to get bonuses and then blaming them to do so, it was in this idiotic stimulus package, that Obama pushed in a hurry without anybody actually reading it, while Chris Dode was the one who put this in to the package. You people deserve incompetent demagogue inexperience president like Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Reed. Just keep running our country to the ground, until American people will get fed-up and throw Democrats from senate and Obama out of the office in 2 and 4 years.

[Scott Kinnaird]

Your article said, "I don't know, but does anyone really think that legalizing marijuana is the most pressing financial issue facing the country?"

Are you serious? Almost half of the people incarcerated in this country are connected to pot. Billions are wasted and thousands of productive lives are trashed on that fact alone. Not to mention the billions of tax dollars waiting to be collected, just like with booze and cigs. And, the entire "Mexican Crisis" would go away tomorrow, protecting our citizens' right to bear arms and our Southwestern communities if pot were legalized. Untold billions are wasted on that fiasco which would go away if pot was grown legally in the U.S.

Whether you agree with legalizing marijuana or not, it's simply ignorant to criticize someone for raising what is an extremely relevant economic question.

[Pamela]

I thought in America we should have each others backs. Instead we have people not wanting to help American companies stay in business. GM and Chrysler have been giving rules to follow and as I have been watching I think they are, yet today I hear more are coming. I hear all will have to give. Times are different and that is understandable however why is it the working class that gets kicked around. When I heard Nancy Pelosi say the auto companies and workers would have to take a hair cut I thought and what about you and Congress. How about cutting your pay and benefits? The UAW men and women put money into the economy and if they aren't working that money isn't there to be put into the economy. But, to act as though these men and women are the problem is nothing short of ashame. If in America we can not support our own American companies, then what good are we, how can we hold our heads up? People need to realize when they say these companies should go bankrupt that it could be the end of millions of jobs. My thought is what do they do? My thought is maybe they should be treated the way they are treating the men and women of our biggest manufacturing in the US. These men and women have my support, it is the right thing to do and it is what I will do.

[torq]

It would be great if President Obama would clearly address the legitimate concern about cannabis legalization rather than shrugging it off as a silly waste of time. It is okay that his opinion is that cannabis legalization would not be an effective way to help our economy, but he needs to elaborate on the subject rather than repeatedly issuing a blanket "No." Tha American public deserves to hear his reasons why.

[tim]

"I don't know, but does anyone really think that legalizing marijuana is the most pressing financial issue facing the country?"

Are you kidding me? Legalizing cannabis is a reasonable argument to end drug violence in Mexico and the U.S. and would also generate a lot in tax revenue. It would be a multi-billion dollar industry. Why do people just look at someone who supports cannabis legalization and think "Oh you're just a pothead, I'm not going to take you seriously because you are involved in something that I find immoral and unhealthy". Even though a lot of research in modern times shows that cannabis is relatively harmless. Is it the gateway theory that bothers you? Perhaps its a gateway because the dealers that sell cannabis on the street also sell cocaine and other drugs. Wouldn't legalizing cannabis take away this association? It would be nice if you took this issue seriously, like 44% of Americans who think cannabis should be legalized (according to the latest polls).

[todd]

Yup. Here is the point buddy. There is and always will be something more important than weed, but pot laws are getting to be such a pain in the butt and the fact that more and more people are smoking it, makes it a very COMMON problem for all. Not to mention every bit of common sense and logic points towards legalization. Peace Todd laredo

[Michael Hurst]

The President has all too many vitally important issues to address and the press that would follow a support of legalizing marijuana would most likely damage any progress being made on these other vital issues.
That being said the legalizing of marijuana is a social and medical issue that must be addressed. The damage to our society by thugs enriched on the profits made by keeping this herb illegal will only increase. This also requires massive efforts by law enforcement personnel when they could be addressing real crimes.
With the vast majority of individuals that responded to President Obama's call for the American voice, asking for some common sense to be applied, to be dismissed with a smile and a no is inappropriate.
It is a very hard fence that must be straddled by a caring President and I for one understand the answer given and do not fault the President for making it.
However the high percentage of questions asked by individuals does give the President a challenge that he should respond to.
The American people are done a great disservice if the true facts about the harm done to our society by the laws in place are never spoken of.
A large percentage of the population wants marijuana legalized, but an even greater percentage wants an end to the waste of tax money and the enrichment of murderous cartels.
The demand for drugs is not diminishing from the tactics used to repress it, maybe some other way might work. We do not need to be a nation run by Homer Simpsons, too stupid to realize that pushing the same button will always have the same response.
From my perspective, the American gardener that shares with his American friends the marijuana they grow is doing more to truly address the problem than all of the misguided individuals that believe more laws, more prisons and higher fences will solve the problem.

[Vanessa Davenport]

I think it would be good to have a review of the prison system, especially here in Illinois - particularly the womens. Dwight treats the prisoners like animals and has a terrible mail system. Even offenders deserve to be treated humane. Unfortunately the prisons aren't rehabilitation centers AT ALL. By the way I know it's going to take time buit I am confident in President Obama. Thanks for all you do! Keep up the good work! - Vanessa Chicago, IL

[legolandbridge]

I'm sorry but the question about marijuana is a lot better than the others. It asks about specific action related to a current bill, as opposed to the others that are so broad and generic they're not even worth asking. Not saying regulating marijuana is most pressing, but feeding Obama campaign-like questions is not exactly top of the agenda either.

[kevingecko]

I have nothing to do with normal, I believe that there are more pressing issues than marijuana law reform, but it is obviously an important issue to most of the online pollers or else so many people would not have posted. So for you to accuse an organization of "highjacking" an online poll is absurd. And marijuana reform is a very important issue!

The declaration of independence was written on marijuana and all of our fore fathers signed their name on it.