Updated Jan 26, 2012 - 3:15 pm
Obama downplays Brewer confrontation
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Print | Originally published: Jan 26, 2012 - 2:07 pm
Amid a myriad of media coverage, President Barack Obama has downplayed the confrontation he had with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer shortly after stepping off of Air Force One on Wednesday.
"This is not a big deal," the president said in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer that will air on ABC World News Thursday night.
to listen to the full interview.
The whole incident was sparked after Obama supposedly disagreed with a statement in Brewer's book, Scorpions for Breakfast, and the two appeared to have a tense moment before the president went to greet people who had come to see him.
Brewer has been enjoying a lot of press coverage for both her and her book, which saw a 200,000 percent increase in sales, due to the tense moment and Obama seemed to intimate that the governor may have had ulterior motives.
"It's always good publicity for a Republican if they're in an argument with me," said Obama.
Obama blamed the media for taking a small issue and splashing it across websites and newspapers.
"I think this is a classic example of things getting blown out of proportion," he said.
While some could argue that is the case, Brewer came out shortly after the incident and said Obama was "thin-skinned" and his attitude surprised her.
"I was a bit taken aback by his stance and his attitude," the governor said. "I tried to listen and tried to be respectful to him."
When asked flat-out if he was tense during the meeting, Obama first attempted to laugh it off but, when pressed, responded with a firm "no."
