President Obama is participating in an online conference call on Obamacare tonight with his friends at Organizing For Action (OFA). However, in an interesting twist, numerous reporters had difficulty logging into the call on the OFA website.
@reidepstein took me 5 min to get on
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) November 19, 2013
http://t.co/xl2kVf6KA6 is not working in another browser window. #Oops
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) November 19, 2013
@reidepstein Nope, mean either. It was working fine until a few minutes ago.
— Jared Favole (@jaredfavole) November 19, 2013
@OKnox Unfortunately, I'm not in yet.
— Shawna Thomas (@ShawnaNBCNews) November 19, 2013
@OKnox @ShawnaNBCNews I'm locked out, too!
— Kathleen Hennessey (@khennessey) November 19, 2013
@OKnox @ShawnaNBCNews I shook it. And then blew on it. Always works.
— Kathleen Hennessey (@khennessey) November 19, 2013
@reidepstein The irony is rather stunning. Cue the "unexpectedly high demand" rationale
— Josh Lederman (@joshledermanAP) November 19, 2013
So, not only does the Obamacare website itself not work, but the site that hosts the conference call to discuss the non-functional site also doesn’t work. Of course, that didn’t stop the grandiose claims about how many OFA loyalists were on the call. Just as predicted by Josh Lederman of the Associated Press, they led off with a claim about so how many people were clamoring to get into the call.
Host of OFA conference call with Pres Obama says "a ridiculous number" of supporters are on tonight's call.
— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) November 19, 2013
OFA chief Jon Carson says "literally hundreds of thousands of folks" are on the call.
— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) November 19, 2013
"There's been a lot of misinformation," Obama tells estimated 200,000 people on Organizing for America call about #healthcare.gov
— lesley clark (@lesleyclark) November 19, 2013
What did those “hundreds of thousands” of people hear? Well…
This Obama OFA call sounds very scratchy, like a fireside chat.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 19, 2013
Obama doesn't sound all that upbeat on this call.
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) November 19, 2013
Obama: We’re going to have to enroll people by mail. We’re going to have to enroll people by phone.
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) November 19, 2013
Yeah, that’s a solution! While we’re at it, why don’t we start using the Pony Express to deliver insurance cancellation notices?
Obama on OFA call: "Obviously we haven't gotten a lot of cooperation from the other party."
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 19, 2013
POTUS encourages supporters to talk about the ACA at holiday parties. (Analysis: POTUS also just ruined a lot of holiday parties.)
— Shawna Thomas (@ShawnaNBCNews) November 19, 2013
Wait, really? You’re actually telling people to hijack their friends’ holiday parties to sell this thing? Trust us, Mr. President, there are more than enough unsolicited political arguments at our family holiday gatherings as it is. We don’t need you egging it on.
Obama, 12 minutes in to OFA call: "I've talked too long."
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) November 19, 2013
For once, Mr. President, we agree with you.
