◼ Longstanding tension between Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Democratic President Barack Obama flared into the public spotlight today just after Air Force One touched down in Phoenix. - ABC (image source)
◼ Audio: Jan Brewer On The Radio With - Jan Brewer's account of the meeting on the tarmac - KFYI ◼ Mike Broomhead
◼ Brewer On Heated Argument With Obama: "He Was A Little Tense" - Real Clear Politics
◼ McCain backs Brewer in tarmac tiff, calls Obama 'prickly' - Chicago Tribune
"Apparently Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, had a similar exchange with the president," McCain said Thursday morning. "It is very well-known he has a prickly personality and I think it has been displayed in both of those cases."
◼ Gov. Jan Brewer Doubles Down On President Obama: ‘I Thought He Was Pretty Thin-Skinned’ - Mediaite
◼ UPDATE: Ranking Of Jan Brewer’s Book Up Over 1,350,000% On Amazon.com - Mediaite
◼ Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman was the only local politician to greet the president when he landed in her city this evening. - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner
No other local figure competed with Goodman for Obama's attention. "I think everyone is trying to protect their positions," Goodman said to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, to explain the lack of politicians greeting the president.
◼ Brewer releases copy of letter she handed to Obama - Arizona Republic
◼ Tension on the Tarmac - Maureen Dowd/New York Times
WHAT is it with Barack Obama’s penchant for getting in tangles with blond politicians on airport tarmacs?
Usually, tarmacs are for joyous welcomes or teary goodbyes. But No Drama Obama saves his rare tempests for the runway.
◼ Infantilizing Obama - Ed Driscoll at PJM
◼ Bobby Jindal on Brewer, Obama Photo Exchange: The Same Thing Happened to Me After Gulf Oil Spill - FOX
Jindal told the co-hosts of Fox and Friends Monday morning that when President Obama first visited Louisiana after the Gulf oil spill, the president pulled him aside on the tarmac and engaged him in conversation, expressing frustration in a move that he called “obviously staged.”
“He grabs me by the arm, takes me aside,” he said, “Here’s the strange thing … I thought he’d be angry about the oil spill, the lack of resources; I thought he’d get down there and say, look governor, we’re going to do everything we can to work together. Instead, he was upset he was going to look bad; he was worried about some routine letter we had already sent to his administration, nothing important.”
Jindal said the reaction shocked him. “I was amazed at two things: one, that he was mad about the wrong things, and two, that he was so thin-skinned.” In a time of crisis, Jindal said the last thing he wanted or expected was for the president to stage what was “clearly a media stunt.”
“I wanted him to be the president of the country, and instead he was playing political theatrics.”
