My question for the Youtube/Barack Obama July 1, 2009 healthcare townhall

As previously discussed, Youtube is soliciting questions to be asked of Barack Obama at his healthcare townhall on July 1, 2009. Since I'm not a healthcare expert and since, unlike many others, I know my limitations, I decided to go meta instead. I was able to successfully add the following video to the list of replies here. (Note: I took a screengrab in case it goes missing like others did for the CNN/Youtube debate).

Here's the script:

My Question for President Obama's July 1 Healthcare Town Hall Meeting

Here's my question: Is this contest a sham?

Everyone else asking a question might have valid concerns...

but, they aren't experts on healthcare policy.

If we want a real debate, wouldn't it involve your experts being asked very tough questions by a wide spectrum of opposition experts?

Isn't Youtube setting you up with easy questions that you can use to promote your policies...

rather than trying to make you defend your policies to those who are very familiar with these issues?

And, with all the Hollywood production values you've come to expect, here's the video:

UPDATE: The event sounds like a complete sham, as I predicted (it wasn't that difficult). There's a live-blog here, and according to this:

[The] meeting included questions from a single-payer advocate, a liberal activist from Health Care for Americans now, and a member of the SEIU, who asked what she could do to help Obama pass health care reform.

According to the first link, Obama even worked in an "I feel your pain" moment:

The president asks her to come over to him – he says he will work with her to try and find help, but right now, he doesn’t want her to be alone. Now he explains why she is an example of why the system is broken... “Debbie, you are exhibit A,” the president says to the woman, before repeating the commitment to get health care reform this year.

Seriously: this is how things are done in totalitarian countries.

UPDATE 2: Even Charles Babbington and Philip Elliott of the Associated Press more or less admit this was a sham (link):

[Debbie Smith from the Exhibit A quote above] is a volunteer for Organizing for America, Obama's political operation within the Democratic National Committee. She obtained her ticket through the White House...

But details on exactly how to do those things were generally lacking in his hour-long town hall forum before a friendly, hand-picked audience in a Washington suburb...

Some of Obama's questioners Wednesday were from friendly sources, including a member of the Service Employees International Union and a member of Health Care for America Now, which organized a Capitol Hill rally last week calling for an overhaul...

Tue, 06/30/2009 - 09:27 · Importance: 4