Everything’s bigger in Texas, and tarmac handshakes are too small a welcome.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry rejected an invitation to greet President Barack Obama Wednesday with a handshake at Austin-Bergstrom Airport in Austin, Texas. Perry doesn’t want just a photo op and a handshake this time around. He wants to “sit down privately” and discuss the border crisis with Obama.
“I appreciate the offer to greet you at Austin-Bergstrom Airport, but a quick handshake on the tarmac will not allow for a thoughtful discussion regarding the humanitarian and national security crises enveloping the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas,” Perry wrote in a letter to the President.
Perry has harshly criticized the president’s response to the recent border crisis. He said in an ABC News interview that the “rule of law” required that the border be secure and that he didn’t “believe [Obama] particularly cares whether or not the border of the United States is secure,” given the lack of effort, focus and resources allocated to the problem.
Obama is spending two days in Dallas and Austin this week, fundraising for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee. While in Texas, Obama has no plans to visit the border and he has received much criticism from both sides for this decision.
A letter released this morning and written by White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett states that Obama will honor Perry’s request.
“The President would welcome a meeting with you while he is in Texas,” wrote Jarrett.
Obama invited Perry to a meeting with faith and local-elected leaders in Dallas on Wednesday. Details on the meeting have not yet been released.
Perry’s success just might prove the old adage right. Sometimes you just have to ask.
Update: Perry did eventually greet Obama on the tarmac and flew in Marine One to a roundtable meeting.
