In her radio interview, Brewer described herself as calm during the conversation with the president, and expressed surprise at the photograph of her wagging a finger in Obama’s face, which has gone viral since the encounter.
“The picture is very interesting. I don’t remember doing that,” she told the radio station.
This confrontation between Brewer and Obama follows a history of disagreements between the two, especially over immigration policy. As AP reported :
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says she meant no disrespect when she pointed a finger at President Barack Obama during an intense discussion on an airport tarmac. But the Republican governor says the Democratic president showed disrespect for her by abruptly ending their conversation.
The brief encounter — out of earshot of observers but captured on camera — was a highly visible demonstration of the verbal and legal skirmishing that has regularly occurred between Brewer and Obama’s administration over illegal immigration and other issues.
Brewer is among the Republican governors who oppose the federal health care overhaul, but the illegal immigration issue has been a particular sore point between Obama and Brewer.
The U.S. Justice Department has challenged Arizona’s controversial 2010 immigration enforcement law in court, while the administration and Brewer are at odds over whether the federal government has done enough to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
On Thursday, Brewer drew support from callers to conservative-oriented talk shows, but the incident left others in the state shaking their heads.
The Arizona Republic, the state’s largest newspaper, editorialized that the image of Brewer wagging a scolding finger at the visiting president “now pretty much defines this state’s relationship with Washington, D.C., to the world.”
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