Economic collapse, scandals lead to petition calling for Obama to resign

In the last several weeks, reports have been surfacing showing that the Internal Revenue Service has been targeting conservative, anti-government organizations, the Department of Justice has confiscated personal records of journalists and the National Security Administration has been spying on millions of Americans.

Add all of this to the sluggish economy, an official unemployment rate of more than seven percent, enormous debt levels, an aggressive foreign policy and a president not taking responsibility for the scandals, a petition has been submitted to the White House seeking President Obama’s resignation.

On Friday, a petition titled “We Demand President Obama Resign” was established by A.J. from Austin, Texas and has (at the time of this writing) nearly 21,000 signatures. In total, each petition created needs 100,000 signatures to garner a response from the White House, which is up from the latest minimum requirement of 25,000.

The petition cited former President Richard Nixon, who stepped down after it was revealed that he ordered the wiretapping of journalists. Nearly four decades later, thousands of Americans are now asking the Commander in Chief to do the same.

“His administration vetted the NSA’s surveillance of millions of Americans and seriously violated the Fourth Amendment. He confiscated the personal records of reporters, thus violating the First Amendment, and the IRS under his watch harassed political organizations opposed to his policies,” the petition states. “Moreover, his administration has lied under oath to Congress. In addition to violating Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution by invading Libya, his administration engaged in torture and conducted a covert drone war. Due to the severity of these crimes, we call for the immediate resignation of Barack Obama.”

It has until Jul. 7 to generate the necessary signatures. If the petition does not receive the required signatures then it will be ignored by administration officials and not issue a response to the content of the petition.

Other petitions that are relevant to the latest news have also been created on the White House’s We the People website. Some of the newest petitions include allowing reporter Glenn Greenwald to interview the president about the NSA, repealing the Patriot Act, impeaching federal Judge Roger Vinson for authorizing the warrantless surveillance program and a second resignation plea for the president – it has only 3,525 signatures (at the time of this writing).

Despite the controversies coming out of Washington, elected officials have not called for the president to step down from his post. He has been vehemently criticized, though, by libertarians, civil liberties activist groups and other Constitutional organizations.

Retired Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul commented in an interview with Fox News that he fears the U.S. government may try to assassinate the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden by using a drone.

“I’m worried about somebody in our government might kill him with a cruise missile or a drone missile,” Paul said. “I mean we live in a bad time where American citizens don’t even have rights and that they can be killed, but the gentlemen is trying to tell the truth about what’s going on.”

Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul said he is “reserving judgment” on Snowden.