You're aware the guy was on a trip to Africa, right?
It's all about the marketing.
You never start a petition when the target is around. If you do, he'll click on it and say, 'oh, four signatures, this is not serious stuff,' and he'll dismiss it.
Instead, you wait until he's away, and when he comes back he'll say, 'oh my G-d, 4.6 million signatures! maybe I should get serious about this.'