Texas Governor Rick Perry asked the Obama administration to send an additional 1,000 National Guard troops to the state’s souther border, via a letter hand-delivered to Presidential advisor Valerie Jarret Monday.
Wearing a tan suit and cowboy boots, Perry met Obama on the tarmac of Austin’s Bergstrom airport. The two shook hands, and Perry then took a letter from his suit pocket and passed it to Jarrett.
While a far cry from the widely derided hug Obama and Florida governor Charlie Crist shared when Obama visited the Governor’s state in February, Perry reportedly clapped as the President stepped off the plane. According to Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton, it marked the first time a Governor has clapped for the President during a tarmac greeting.
Obama was en-route to a fundraiser in Dallas for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.