This is making my head hurt, but Texas Gov. Rick Perry is, umm, correct in asking for more than an airport tarmac handshake with Barack Obama when the president arrives in Austin this week.

Perry wants more than handshake with Obama during Texas visit

Perry wants to meet privately with Obama to discuss the border crisis, created by the influx of thousands of illegal immigrants — from Central America — into Texas. The immigrants are young people fleeing repression; they have become commodities of human traffickers and drug lords. It’s a disgraceful development.

I must agree wholeheartedly with the governor on his request for a substantive meeting with the president.

The president reportedly has no plans to visit the border region while he’s in Texas to raise money for Democratic candidates. He should change his mind on that one, too.

As for meeting with Perry, Obama would have to set aside the idiotic statements from the governor, who said over the weekend he believes the White House may have “wanted” the crisis to erupt on the border. To what end is anyone’s guess. Perry hasn’t yet described what possible motive the president and/or the White House would have in fomenting this crisis.

The two men are adults. They’re seasoned pols. They know how to talk “frankly” with each other. I would hope the president could find time to meet with the governor of a significant state that is under siege at the moment by illegal immigrants.