It’s very likely this idea started out more innocently than it might seem. Obama needs to get his message out about health care but wants to demonstrate to taxpayers that they also are a part of the process. Fielding questions about your health care program on primetime television demonstrates to citizens that you’re not only addressing the problems they care about, but you’re also involving them in the government’s decision. At its core, that’s what we think this program is about.

But we can’t help but be suspicious.

Maybe Obama and ABC’s intentions are purely to educate the American people, which is a noble effort. However, ABC is the only station carrying this show and will be broadcasting directly from rooms in the White House itself. This level of involvement between a media network and the government is a little worrying.

Obama wanted to get his message out, and that’s understandable, but an exclusive broadcast suggests much more. If anything, the number of people your message reaches will be far fewer than if it was on all four major networks. It doesn’t make sense for the White House to limit its appeal like that. It only comes off like the Obama administration is slanting the programming, even if that’s not the case.

Even though Obama is the president, he is not exempt from politics. It’s very likely his health care plan will favor Democratic policies, so it’s not safe from the same political scrutiny the rest of the government faces. A selected audience with pre-approved questions only makes it seem like Obama wants to control what’s said. If the show is going to be an infomercial for the Democratic way to fix health care, shouldn’t the Democratic National Committee be paying for airtime like it does during election season?

The bias in questioning can’t be addressed until the questions are asked, but we feel Obama should still do a good job of mixing critics with supporters. If Republicans think they’re being frozen out of the program, then address their issues on the show. Don’t give them a reason to think you’re controlling the opinions on the debate.

But maybe the biggest mistake is on the part of the Republicans. The special isn’t intended to be a debate — as the conservatives seem to think it is. It’s just supposed to be informative. Obama is probably just looking to get his thoughts out with the least possible interference, which means he’s only dealing with one network. It reeks of poor media-government relations, but that shouldn’t detract from what’s being said.

Hopefully, the questions answered on the program will overshadow the questions surrounding it.