A White House reporter asked spokesman Josh Earnest whether President Obama enjoyed himself at an infrastucture photo-op earlier Tuesday in Virginia, mocking Obama's claim last week about not visiting the border crisis because he wasn't "interested in photo ops."
The assembled press corps laughed as Earnest asserted Obama was in good spirits.
"And is he likely to be just as unhappy with the photo op he has planned later this week on infrastructure?" the reporter asked.
A flustered Earnest said he didn't understand the question.
"I'm getting back to his blowing off photo ops on the border," the reporter said. "Was he concerned that might send the wrong message to people in Central America if he went to the border?"
"What the president's concerned about is focusing on solutions," Earnest said. "That's exactly what the president was focused on last week."
"But he said he didn't like photo ops and he seemed to having a pretty good time," the reporter said.
Earnest said the White House's opponents on this issue were more interested in appearing in front of cameras and had their "priorities mixed up," while saying Obama was only interested in putting forth positive solutions for problems like the border crisis.
Obama's line about lack of interest in photo events was widely mocked, with the Washington Examiner and Independent Journal Review assembling a collection of times the president seemed more than happy to be in front of the camera.