'Obamacare' infomercial was a bust

ABC's much criticized one hour health care special, broadcast form the White House, was a bust. The special received the lowest ratings in it's time slot.

The one-hour ABC News special "Primetime: Questions for the President: Prescription for America" (4.7 million viewers, 1.1 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) had the fewest viewers in the 10 p.m. hour (against NBC's "The Philanthropist" debut and a repeat of "CSI: NY" on CBS). The special tied some 8 p.m. comedy repeats as the lowest-rated program on a major broadcast network.

ABC insisted the special would not be a Obama infomercial, but they failed to deliver. President Obama filibustered most of the time.

Call this a teachable moment, but even with ABC’s best-laid plans to kickstart the debate about health care reform and not allow the “Prescription for America” special to become an “infomercial,” as many have complained – the president spent more than twice as much time as his questioners vaguely answering or not answering the questions asked of him. But the network consistently presented the event as part of the need to fix a "broken system." When asked, every one of the 164 hand-picked audience members said they felt that health care needed to be changed.

President Obama refused to pledge he wouldn't seek extraordinary help for his wife or daughters if they became sick and the public plan he’s proposing limited the tests or treatment they can get.

Devinsky asked the president pointedly if he would be willing to promise that he wouldn’t seek such extraordinary help for his wife or daughters if they became sick and the public plan he’s proposing limited the tests or treatment they can get.

The president refused to make such a pledge, though he allowed that if “it’s my family member, if it’s my wife, if it’s my children, if it’s my grandmother, I always want them to get the very best care.

Republicans complained bitterly about ABC refusing to allow an official opposition response, or even a paid ad.

In the absence of opposition, I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda. If that is the case, this primetime infomercial should be paid for out of the DNC coffers. President Obama does not hold a monopoly on health care reform ideas or on free airtime. The President has stated time and time again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party javascript:void(0)should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime.

ABC also interviewed Obama on "Good Morning America" to help promote the special. The is another example of the Main Stream Media's biased reporting in support of Obama.