“No, you can’t get your picture,” Pres. Obama told a young African he encountered at a Young African Leader Initiative event in Washington, DC on Wednesday.
Hand-picked by Obama to ask a question, the young man followed his query with a special request:
“And the second one favor -- the second favor, I’ll need a really a special picture with you. Thanks very much, President.”
When Obama mocked the modest request, the audience began chanting, “Yes, you can!”:
Pres. Obama: “All right. So this is as good a time as any to let you know that after I’m done, I’m going to shake everybody’s hands. No, no, no, no, wait. Wait, wait, wait -- when I say everybody, I don’t mean literally everybody. I’m going to -- because there are a thousand of you. I can’t shake everybody. But –“
Audience: "Yes, you can! (Laughter.) Yes, you can!"
Obama responded by telling the young man that it’d take too long to take “selfies” with everyone in the audience:
“I’ve got another job I’ve got to do. But here’s what I cannot do is take selfies, because then I’ll be here for the next four hours. It won’t work.
“So, no, you can’t get your picture. I’m sorry.”
But, the president didn’t have a personal conversation with everyone in the audience. He personally talked with only a handful of African visitors – and could’ve honored this young man’s request in less time than it took to explain how he was too busy to do so.