Tim Tebow's fans made a plea to the White House after his employment status changed for the worse recently. The New York Jets recently released Tebow, a Florida standout and one-time Broncos headliner. The Jacksonville Jaguars haven't had a big name quarterback since Byron Leftwich left town to hold Ben Roethlisberger's clipboard in Pittsburgh a number of years ago. Likewise, the expansion team's GM, David Caldwell, is still seemingly undecided as to whether he should sign Tim Tebow.
Fans of the AFC East team evidently had enough of waiting for Caldwell's final decision and took matters into their own hands. "Jacksonville Jaguars fans want the team to sign recently released QB Tim Tebow," reads the first line of a petition started by fans on President Barack Obama's "We The People" petition site on the official White House website. Obama, a Democrat, set up the petition site reportedly to field the demands of the public directly.
Petitions on Obama's site require 100,000 signatures to receive executive action. Tim Tebow's fans' plea has collected a reported 144 as of Monday morning, according to NESN
Tebow's petition continues, noting Caldwell's "rookie" status as a general manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars, suggesting he is a novice at overseeing a major NFL team. They suggest a Tebow signing would lead to the sellout of EverBank Field, which is a rare occurrence noting the Jaguars' athletic struggles the past number of seasons. Fans noted Tebow's record statistics with the Denver Broncos, including his 100.5 QB Rating for his first game, which even surpassed Denver legend, and current team owner, John Elway.
In response to his release from the Florham Park, N.J.-based Jets, he simply tweeted an Old Testament Bible verse from Proverbs that read in part "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding," The ever-optimistic 25-year-old Tebow did not make a commotion about his release in the least, going against the grain of outspoken culture of the NFL.
Tebow will need much more support from his fan base and that of the beleaguered Jaguars in order to prompt official action from Obama. The last populist petition to Obama that made headlines upon reaching the required number of signers garnered only a short paragraph response from the White House.
In January, Second Amendment supporters filed a petition on the "We The People" website asking for Obama to consider deporting CNN host Piers Morgan. Morgan, a British citizen, has made statements on his program, "Piers Morgan Tonight" opposing gun rights in the wake of recent mass shooting incidents. UPI reported that the petition for Morgan's return to England began to gather steam after an interview with Larry Pratt, of Gun Owners of America, during which Morgan called Pratt "an incredibly stupid man."
That petition soon collected more than 100,000 signatures, when the threshold for White House action was reportedly only 25,000.
Press Secretary Jay Carney released a statement on January 10, 2013, regarding the Piers Morgan deportation petition, which read in part: "Americans may disagree on matters of public policy and express those disagreements vigorously, but no one should be punished by the government simply because he or she expressed a view on the Second Amendment -- or any other matter of public concern."
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