Obama Tells Diane Sawyer Finger Wave, ‘Not a Big Deal’

An AP photographer got the picture of the day Wednesday as Pres. Obama took his post-State of the Union swing state tour to Arizona. Upon greeting the state’s Republican governor Jan Brewer, the two exchanged words and at one point AP photographer Haraz Ghanbari snapped a picture that spawned a thousand words: Brewer seen raising her finger to the president.

By Thursday morning the image made its way onto websites and cable news channels — most cable news channels.

Because it would be very tempting to use the image in news reports, a CNN VP had to remind CNN producers that the network is no longer a client of the Associated Press and should not use the picture. “Do not use this AP image on any platform. Do not even hold up a newspaper in which the photo is published,” reads the internal memo obtained by TVNewser.

Brewer explained that the president was “somewhat thin-skinned and a little tense” during the brief encounter.

Here’s how Pres. Obama explained it to ABC’s Diane Sawyer, when she got a sit down interview with him Thursday in Las Vegas:

(Image Credit: Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP)

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