Another Website, Another Problem for Obama

WASHINGTON â€" Some supporters who tried to log in to hear President Obama defend his embattled health care law on Monday night were unable to hear him because the website of the group behind the call, Organizing for Action, failed to work for them.

The website problems were an inconvenient moment for a president who has spent the last six weeks trying to explain the failure of HealthCare.gov, the online marketplace for Mr. Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

The event on Monday was intended to offer Mr. Obama’s most ardent supporters a chance to hear directly from him. It was the latest conference call to be hosted by Organizing for Action, the nonprofit group that grew out of the president’s 2012 campaign organization.

“I want to cut through the noise and talk with you directly about where we’re headed in the fight for change,” Mr. Obama had said in one of many emails sent to supporters over the past several days. The emails urged supporters to log onto an Organizing for Action website at 8:15 p.m. to listen to the president’s remarks.

Mr. Obama told those who could hear that there had been “a lot of misinformation” about his health care plan and noted that nearly a half-million people had signed up for Medicaid or for new insurance despite the problems with the health care website.

“I am confident that by the end of this month, it’s going to be functioning for the vast majority of folks,” Mr. Obama said. “Despite all the noise out there, despite all the criticism, despite all the setbacks, I’ve never lost faith in our ability to get this done.”

But many people who logged in said they could not hear anything, with the website reporting “connection failure” over and over again. It was unclear how many people could listen to the call. An official with the group gave a New York Times reporter, who also could not hear anything on the website, a telephone number to call and listen in.

At the same time, a chat board on the website began filling up with messages:

“I can’t hear any audio?”

“Is everyone getting the ‘reconnecting’ message?”

“I did refresh twice â€" still no sound.”

“WHERES THE SOUND YO?”

One supporter pleaded, “Don’t tell me there are troubles with this live event like there were with the Obamacare website!!!!!”

Organizing for Action officials said at the beginning of the call that more than 200,000 people had signed on to listen to the president. Katie Hogan, a spokeswoman for the group, said that technicians noticed a spike in traffic at the beginning of the call and that there was no indication that large numbers of people were unable to hear the president.

Ms. Hogan said the “vast majority” of those who logged in were able to listen in, and she pointed to the quick popularity of a Twitter hashtag â€" #ofacall â€" that was announced on the call as evidence.

Whether or not people could hear may not have mattered much.

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU, MR PRESIDENT, BUT I’M BEHIND YOU,” one person wrote. “PLEASE STICK IT OUT WITH OBAMACARE. THE COUNTRY NEEDS IT … AND YOU.”

The glitch was at the very least inconvenient for a White House that has been struggling to combat the perception that it cannot get things done.

“Just like healthcare.gov, this site doesn’t work either,” another supporter said. “It is tougher and tougher to defend all of this mr president.”