Yep, and good on that controller at ORD, but in most cases they aren't watching everything that closely or can't even see everything that fine. It's not without precedent:The one and only time I ever taxied an aircraft at ORD I got the ATC equivalent of absolutely screamed at for not pulling ALL THE WAY up to the hold short line, and I was WAY closer than 56 feet. I just can't imagine that this isn't also what's expected at an airport as busy as ATL. You should be far enough forward for the hold short line to not be visible directly underneath the nose of the aircraft.
I'll betcha a sixer that the final report says that both ground traffic controller and the Airbus driver should have both been like, "look at this stupid asshole", but will place most of the blame on the 900 crew.