St. Petersburg, Florida - Most people would consider a finger being wagged in their face - rude. This past Wednesday, the Governor of Arizona shook her finger in the face of the most powerful man in the free world.
Priscilla Murtha runs her own company, "Protocol By Priscilla" where she teaches basic etiquette. Murtha said she had to learn about etiquette not only from the pages of Emily Post's book, but from her parents as well.
Murtha said, "My daddy retired from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and so my parents and my brother and I attended formal events and my mom and dad taught us how to behave properly in any situation."
She has a problem with the way Arizona's Governor, Jan Brewer, greeted President Obama. Murtha said, "Especially considering it's our Commander in Chief and the first thing I noticed is the personal space. The Governor was much too close and the gesture is rude. That was not the place because greetings and farewells are very important so it was not the time or the place."
The incident underscores the longstanding disagreement President Obama and Governor Brewer have had for years. It centers around illegal immigration and Arizona's controversial law that forces legal immigrants to carry their documents with them proving their status.
Opponents and the President alike say it could lead to racial profiling.
Governor Brewer said she greeted the President with a handwritten letter inviting him to join her in a visit to the Mexican border. The President is said to have responded by saying he didn't appreciate the way she portrayed him in her book the last time they met to discuss immigration.
In her book "Scorpions for Breakfast", she wrote that President Obama was condescending and lectured her. Governor Brewer's book sales have soared since the incident.
Political analyst Kiki Caruson said, "She's in the top 20 on the bestseller list and so she's getting some mileage out of the encounter with Obama."
The incident could backfire for Governor Brewer and the Republican party though. Robert Meza, a Democratic state senator from Phoenix, said "For that incident alone 85 percent more Latin people will gravitate toward the president."
Tammie Fields, 10 News
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