More Obama: What's your reaction to this NYT update on his open government pledge?

Full article here

There seem to be many ways to slice and dice this article. What do you think of the process? Is Obama obliged to follow the will of the people? In terms of getting results, how do you think this process compares with “in the streets” protests or grassroots efforts? (Or is this the co-opting of the grassroots?) What do you think of the fact that citizen users designated three of the top ten issues as marijuana legalization and Obama’s birth certificate (twice)? Or that the White House and/or participating users buried those particular issues? Further, that they’ve kept some flagged comments viewable?

How well do you think Obama has responded to the top concerns voiced on change.gov (referenced in the above article)? Note that similarly two of the top ten concerns fall under marijuana legalization. Do you think the majority of Americans agree with these top ten concerns? With the exception of tax increases for the wealthy, do citizens on the political right agree with these ideas, generally?

Is it sufficient that the distillation of citizen efforts to draft open government policy is regarded as “another voice in the room” along with the opinion of OMB and White House staff? Do you think this process will improve government for the people or serve as yet another smokescreen for business as usual?