
Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP
(left) President Barack Obama talks with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer after arriving at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport on Wednesday. (right) Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer points during an intense conversation with President Barack Obama.
Earlier today we published a photograph by photojournalist Haraz Ghanbari from the Associated Press showing Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and President Barack Obama engaged in an apparently tense exchange on an airport tarmac shortly after Air Force One touched down outside Phoenix on Wednesday.
Eduardo Suñol, Sr. Executive Producer for TelemundoNews, caught up to Ghanbari by phone this afternoon and asked him to recount what he had witnessed on Wednesday.
It was one of those shots that takes a second to grab and stays around forever. Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer pointing her finger at President Obama’s face, like the teacher reprimanding the student who didn’t turn his homework on time.
The picture was taken by Haraz Ghanbari, a seven year veteran photographer of the Associated Press who had just stepped off Air Force One and was standing 50 feet away by the plane’s left wing.
“She had a letter on her hands and through my camera lens I could read it said `Mr. President”, Ghanbari told Telemundo News. “I have never seen anybody given a letter to the president at the bottom of the steps”, he said.
While all the other photographers took off for `the ropes’- an area assigned to the guests, and onlookers on the tarmac- Ghanbari stayed around sensing something might unravel.
“Typically those conversations last 30 seconds”, he said. “They’ll say, `Hey Mr. President, Welcome!’ or whatever. But I had my radar up. I knew her stance on immigration and his stance on immigration, so I thought this could be interesting. I just stayed there with my camera.”
President Obama got off the plane, ran downstairs and after shaking the governor’s hand the exchange began.
Ghanbari, with his Cannon Mark IV camera on hand, says he couldn’t hear what they were saying to each other, but concluded it was an “animated conversation”.
“I saw Governor Brewer with her finger up like she was making an emphasis on something”, he said. “Then I took the picture. It took like a second to take”.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's tense conversation with President Barack Obama permeated the media. White House officials say the incident was overblown. NBC's Kristen Welker reports.


Another example of white racists' refusal to show ANY respect for this President because he is a black man. She would never have DREAMED of doing that to Bush.
The secret service should have broken her damned finger off. No other American president has had to put up with the blatant disrespect that he has endured during the last 3 years; From being shouted at and called a liar in the middle of his speech by Rep Joe Wilson, from dealing with right wing elected officials' habit of never referring to him as PRESIDENT Obama and now to this - a MAYOR pointing her friggin' FINGER IN THE FACE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. She says in a interview that SHE felt threatened?! The Secret Service should have arrested her for making a threatening gesture toward our President.
Are you sure it's not George Bush's fault?
I too have noticed the blatant disrespect he, as well as his family is shown. It is truly ugly and the rest of the world, I'm sure, is noticing. The downright nasty, racist email that the Kansas politician circulated should have resulted in his immediate dismissal. If I or anyone else had alluded to a politicians days being short, it would have been considered a terroristic threat, you can't even flip a cop the bird!! Yet there was not much mention of it in the media and the politician even refused to apologize. WOWZERS!! (blank stare)
You must have been hibernating during the Bush administration. Or any administration, really. You've obviously selectively deleted from your memory banks:
- all those spoofs of the "W" campaign bumper stickers that said "F the President"
- bloggers and others giving President Bush disrespectful nicknames like "Shrub"
- The protesters all over the place with defaced "Hitler" pictures of President Bush
- Clinton staffers causing $20,000 worth of damage vandalizing the White House and office equipment on their way out
- President Bush was BOOED and "nah nah nahhhh nah, hey hey hey, goodbye!"'d at Obama's inauguration (video here: ) and he had to sit there and listen to President Obama criticize his presidency during the inauguration speech (The new York Times noted that something that blatant had not happened since FDR).
- Dozens of Democrats in Congress booed and heckled during Bush's SOTU in 2004 & 2005 during his comments on the Patriot Act and Social Security. Yet they did not get half the attention Joe Wilson got.
- etc.
Really? You don't think that if the Bush Administration had sued Arizona for enforcing laws passed by legally elected representatives with the intention of protecting the citizens of Arizona, she wouldn't be shaking her finger in his face? Really?
TAXPAYERS ARE THE PAYEE FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS
It’s not condescending, but if you came to America by whatever means without permission of the People via the US government, you are violating this country’s sovereignty rights? I doubt if there is any country on Mother Earth, where you would not be imprisoned or immediately deported? Mexican laws have very strict statutes, that illegal entry is punishable as a Felony. Congress and being owned by special interests money doesn't impose a felony. It's a walk away "slap-on-the-hand punishment and then unless it’s a second entry after deportation, you can now walk away from being incarcerated--thanks to the executive order from President Obama. Life has been made so easy for foreign nationals, which they can even demonstrate in the streets, demanding rights without any recourse from ICE? They shouldn't even be here, but they are able to ride the welfare programs through a poor interpretation of the 14th Amendment. People come from every hemisphere after waiting years for a visa, but others steel in disguised as a tourist with unborn babies or just steal across our perforated border fence. Then they go about stealing somebody’s Identification to get a job, procure that persons credit.
Our once praiseworthy schools are now poorly recognized for performance, as they were 30 years ago. The top State for education originated in California and now it is somewhere around the bottom of the barrel. Millions who swarmed into Los Angeles County have turned it into miles of poverty stricken neighborhoods, without any countermeasures from the immigration police. Hospitals are hurting from unpaid treatments and Border States saw many of these institutions go bankrupt—another good example of unfunded mandates. Prez Obama is on hunt for more votes in 2012, so it makes major sense to fly off to Nevada, heavily populated with illegal aliens and a very poor set of voting regulations. Every American must be involved to oversee the outcome of every precinct and the value of Absentee Ballots that are easily forged. How can the United States government expect to support, the senior citizens, along with veterans, homeless and infirm citizens, when they are subsidizing 440 000 illegal alien infants annually. Why patriotic Americans who speak up for themselves should, be forced to feel guilty or defend their stance on illegal immigration. The Tea Party doesn't--that for sure, and rigidly holds the line on another blanket amnesty, sanctuary city policies, and dream acts, family chain migration or any other law, which eventually falls to the taxpayers in supporting unfunded mandates.
I think the President is in for a rude awakening as pro-illegal alien Democrats, Republicans lawmakers start to lose their seats in the Senate or House in the forthcoming months. Why should Americans be forced by the law courts to be the payee for the rest of the world? No matter for what issue, whether foreign or domestic policies? We must look to employing our own low income, white and blue collar labor and stop the incessant pandering to lawbreakers. Our Immigration laws are not broken as the Liberal press assures us, as they are either eating out of the hands of the newspaper owners or carefully manipulated by unions, non-profits and radical groups. With probably the most important Election in decades we must be seriously vigilant of no real movement on behalf of this administration, to stop non-citizens voting. They will and have driven by the re animated ACORN organization who are accomplished in fraudulent canvassing for votes. All would-be presidential candidates should be well aware of illegal aliens voting, specifically when they are very likely to be issued a deportation order. Of course if other states akin to Arizona are crushed by the iron hand of the Department of In-Justice, run by Liberal progressive Eric Holder who reputation is ruined by his involvement in the gun running carnival, which killed a US border Patrolmen? Simple and with no cost to taxpayers is the well documented “ATTRITION BY ENFORCEMENT.” Self-Deportation will commence when Aliens cannot support their families, with the implementation of Mandatory E-Verify.
Mitt Romney is certainly correct about E-Verify and its powerful influence would drive the illegal aliens home and nothing need be done except multiple lightening raids by ICE on businesses. His minions in the Justice Department have sued any state that has been fighting for financial survival and then plagued Conservative Governors Jan Brewer as she in most frontier States have been forced by the liberal judiciary to subsidize any impoverished person who squats in that state.
Two bills are ready to arrive at the floor of the House of Representative, which could injure the mechanism that awards criminal acts of illegal immigration. E-Verify --The "Legal Workforce Act" that can contain the 8 million working illegal aliens and will halt them in their tracks. The E-Verify program must be succeeding as 4 Democrats have now co-sponsored this bill and you should contact your federal or local lawmaker at 202-224-3121. A simple method of identifying who is hired by companies, that doesn't want to become a victim of incompetence,. They know full well that when this law is passed, they will be facing heavy fines, loss of assets and even time behind bars. A few citizens or authorized or lawful residents, which fall through the cracks, can find relief by going to the local Social Security office; aliens will flee, rather than entering a federal agency. Another bill less publicized by the Liberal press or other media, is the “Birthright Citizenship" amendment, which would offer no more foothold for the illegal parent or parents of children smuggled into America. No more easy preference for a pregnant Mother so she can immediately get public assistance, hospital birthing, food stamps or anything else given freely by our indifferent government. Whoever wins the presidency--Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum or even Ron Paul must be held accountable, for every promise they declare to the public audience.
Make your own judgment for who you will vote for, whether a new state governor, a new state senator or those in the highest levels of government who have been secretive in pouring billions in taxpayer money to support the 20 million and more who have settled here illegally. Any search engine such as Google Yahoo will show you hundreds of reports on the real costs, graphs and other statistics. The power of the American people, that is the TEA PARTY, is sickened by the complete abuse of laws from the founding fathers. NumbersUSA has displays of grafts and the presidential hopeful’s grades on illegal immigration. Want to know how minority speaker deceived the system through her corruption; it is well illustrated in the legal watchdog pages of Judicial Watch. Want to know the nauseating cost if President Obama slips through a blanket amnesty, that’s found at Hermitage Foundation.
The TEA PARTY does not alienate any race or nationality as the Liberal media would like you to think? It just requests the 1986 Immigration law (IRCA) enforced and not altered to pander to illegal migrants and immigrants.
President Obama is pandering to these people for votes--illegal or a legal immigrant. Neither non-citizen can vote but WILL unless we introduce federal possession of a picture ID to vote. Learn more at NumbersUSA
This could possibly a game changing image in the upcoming general election. I have no doubt this image plays well to the GOP's populist base. It's got to be emotionally satisfactory to see the President "getting it" from one of their own. However, Obama is not going to get the votes from this populist base in the first place. Where this image makes a different is with the Latino voters around the country. Here is Brewer, the governor that signed the SB 1070, the law that assumes every Latino is illegal, disrespecting the President of the United State. She disrespects Latinos and she disrespects Obama. That's powerful.
Prior comments range from being affronted to applauding the actions of Governor Brewer. Whatever one's viewpoint my be, this is a PULITZER MOMENT if there ever has been one regarding President Obama.
Obviously Governor Brewer is pandering to her right wing nuts here. Just one year after one of her cronies attempted to assassinate Representative Giffords, (killing and wounding many other people in the process), she's on the tarmac pointing the finger at their next target. Yes very powerful and a Pulitzer moment if there ever has been, (and there have been many I'm sure.) No I don't think it will help her nationally, especially when her explanation (after the fact) was that she "was afraid". She is a disgusting excuse for an elected official and it only shows just how superior he is to her, that he would just walk away and down play this insolent and disrespectful behavior on her part instead of acting in kind like she was trying to taunt him into doing.
Now wait a minute. The guy who shot Rep. Giffords a crony of Gov. Brewer? A blatant lie I say. Ridiculous really.
You should write for Saturday Night Live.
sub title: AND YOUR LITTLE DOG TOTO TOO!