President Obama Says No To Selfie Request By Thirteen-Year-Old Girl!

President Obama, who is on a visit to Asia was recently in South Korea. As part of his itinerary, he was supposed to visit the U.S. Army Garrison at Yongsan near Seoul. Waiting in anticipation for Obama at the location was 13-year-old Mika Taylor and her gang of friends. In her hands, Mika held a bright orange sign that read: “MR. PRESIDENT MAY I HAVE A SELFIE WITH YOU?” The sign was prominent enough for Obama to take note. But to the dismay of the little girl, president Obama politely declined her request. His reasoning was that if he granted her wish, he would have to grant the wishes of everyone that had assembled there. To make sure that little Ms Taylor does get a picture of the president Obama asked her to click one as he walks past her, reports ABC News.

“Just take a picture of me as I’m going by,” is what president Obama told her, according to Bret Hovell of CBS News. Hovell claims to have overheard the short conversation between Ms Taylor and Obama.

Now, while it was gracious of president Obama to politely decline the girl’s request, people are starting to wonder of this is the effect of the (in)famous David Ortiz selfie that Obama had taken a few weeks ago. The Red Sox star who has a relationship with Samsung posted a picture with Obama which many people thought was done more as a promotional stunt for Samsung – a claim which David Ortiz has denied.

What an honor! Thanks for the #selfie, @BarackObama pic.twitter.com/y5Ww74sEID

— David Ortiz (@davidortiz) April 1, 2014

The White House too wasn’t much impressed by that selfie with Obama with senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer suggesting “Maybe this will be the end of all selfies.” While people are talking about this “selfie ban” being the reason for Obama’s new found aversion to selfies, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney later told the press that there is no such ban and that Pfeiffer’s outburst was humorous in nature. However he did add that the White House definitely sees an issue when a brand tries to “use the president’s likeness to promote a product.” Apparently the White House has had a word with Samsung as well regarding this.

Anyway, do you think it would have been better had Obama granted little Mika Taylor’s selfie wish. We’re sure she wasn’t promoting any product there, was she?

[Image via Gawker/AP]