To provide a clear message to the White House, we need to be able to sign "in favor of" OR "in opposition to" petitions on this site (the We the People site).
Currently, it would be difficult to distinguish between:
1. 25,000+ signatures with little opposition
(indicating a potential "no-brainer" for executive action).
AND
2. 25,000+ signatures for a petition and another 25,000+ signatures silently against the petition
(indicating an ongoing debate among the population that may need further consideration).
Creating a separate counter-petition is insufficient as it won't directly link to the petition it is countering and will require it's own momentum to become more visible on the We the People site, giving an inherent advantage to the side of a debate that posts first.