In a largely symbolic show of protest against Washington’s policies, secession petitions filed by no less than 20 US states are being touted as some defining comment on the state of American society today. However, coming on the heels of the re-election of President Barack Obama for a second term, this is a predictable form to test those who feel he is undeserving of the second term. The response to petitions however, has been so large that it may require an official response from the administration. These petitions, buttressed by the most difficult economic conditions since the Great Depression, mean that all is not rosy for the second time re-elected President, nor is his re-election a source of great joy for the hundreds of thousands who have signed the petition.Obama has won the elections by a margin but to see the states standing up for secession is somewhat strange given that the people in the US are normally used to exercising their rights through the ballot box. Many of the states where the petition has been signed were ones that voted for Obama. However, there is little doubt that the sudden surge with which the petitions have been filed must be a source of jitters for the Obama Administration. The US public, swept away in the reactions to movements like Occupy Wall Street is now voicing serious opposition to the idea of the United States itself. So far, the petitions have drawn no crowds or street power of any proportion; it was signed on a website, We The People that has prompted some political scientists to assert that the danger to the US may not be existential and that the petition culture is common. They further argue that this amounts to exercising their right granted to them by the First Amendment. These points have their validity but what should not be forgotten is that an average American has started to take the conduct of his government very seriously.Of course, another reason for discontent would appear to be that the US has taken on itself the role of shouldering the ‘White Man’s Burden’ of the entire globe in the process occupying several countries, inflicting wars on those with whom arguments could have been settled through dialogue. Hence the common realisation that all this has terribly gone wrong owing to which the US has forfeited that role particularly in the eyes of the general citizens is now rife. Obama’s leadership skills will be tested to their limits in how he and his administration allay these concerns.Lastly, threats to United States strong enough to move its foundations may not come from abroad but from within. For the White House, it is a time to look inwards, and reflect that the secession threat arising from tide of petitions is no ordinary threat.