President Barack Obama arrived at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and was greeted by Gov. Jan Brewer, among other dignitaries and local mayors. The two spoke intensely for a few minutes. At one point, she pointed her finger at him. At another, they were talking over each other.

Obama appeared to walk away from Brewer while they were still talking.

"He was a little disturbed about my book, 'Scorpions for Breakfast,' " Brewer told a pool reporter who is a member of the traveling White House press corps shortly after her encounter with Obama. "I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president. The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read the excerpt."

Asked what aspect of the book disturbed him, Brewer said: "That he didn't feel that I had treated him cordially. I said I was sorry he felt that way, but I didn't get my sentence finished. Anyway, we're glad he's here."

Brewer, a Republican, had given Obama a letter about immigration and invited him back to Arizona. Her office declined to release a copy, saying it was a personal, hand-written letter and not a public record. She later released a statement saying she and the president had discussed "this state's economic turnaround."

A White House official said Obama told Brewer that he wants to help Arizona's economy expand and that he'd be happy to meet with her, but that he felt Brewer gave an inaccurate portrayal of her previous Oval Office meeting in her 2011 book.

The official said their last meeting, in June 2010, was a cordial discussion in the Oval Office. At the time, Brewer also described the conversation as cordial, but in the book, she calls the president "patronizing" and said "he lectured me."

Following Wednesday's event, Brewer spokesman Matthew Benson said the governor "was somewhat taken aback by the president's tone" during the encounter.

"But, you know, she doesn't back down from anything that she has written or said about the Obama administration," Benson said.

After photos circulated of the encounter, Brewer was asked on KTAR (620) whether it was a sign of disrespect to point her finger.

"I would never disrespect a president," she said. "I would certainly never disrespect the office of the president. ... I don't know when that photo was snapped."

She added, "I was trying not to be angry. I was trying to make a point that I thought my book was right and correct."

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, a Democrat, was among those on the tarmac to greet Obama and witnessed the exchange.

"When the president visits your community, that's the time for you to be an ambassador for your community," he said. "It's not the time for debate on the tarmac of an airport."

Mesa Mayor Scott Smith heard the exchange. He described the discussion as "somewhat animated."

"It was a little awkward," he said.

The finger wag became a hot topic on Twitter, Facebook and azcentral.com. Some people praised Brewer for standing her ground, others attacked the exchange.

"There's so much she wanted to say," tweeted Rep. Jack Harper, R-Surprise.