But I have to say, being the voice of skepticism for the moment, that the reason petitions don't work is because Lucas doesn't *want* them to work. In this case, he probably knows he's in the wrong and that his argument is extremely stodgy. He knows damn well that he can release both versions (heck, release the originals as the "Inferior Edition" if he so wished) but to go back now would show how he messed things up at the start. He's trying to save face by pretending this side of things doesn't exist.
Call that whatever you will, but in the big picture it works really. As much there are those of us who don't like his changes, there are still more apathetic souls who can only muster up a 'meh'.