Mar 17 (Pen Men at Work): President Obama will appear in a rare interview on Fox News tonight. This will be his second appearance on the cable network. Many calling this move of President Obama ‘as going into the lion’s den’ as Fox News has been extremely critical to Obama’s policies. In fact one former White House director said on CNN that Fox “often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.

Obama who is in a final drive for congressional passage of health-care legislation and has been undertaking a public campaign to make his case. This interview with Bret Baier is seen as a unique opportunity for president Obama to speak directly to the American people and gain more support for the bill which is facing strong Republican opposition. At the White House briefing this afternoon, Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, was asked if the president believed he could really change the minds of viewers who watch Fox. It’s “certainly worth a shot,” Mr. Gibbs said, adding that Mr. Obama was well aware that wavering Democrats and their constituents tuned in to the network.

News Corp.’s Fox News Channel this year has averaged more than twice the daily audience of its competitors, Time Warner Inc.’s CNN and General Electric Co.’s MSNBC, according to The Nielsen Company. Tonight’s interview is set for broadcast at 6 p.m. Washington time, according to the network’s Web site.