So the President did meet with Governor "Good Hair" (as the late great Molly Ivins called him), Rick Perry.
It seems like the Prez has had more luck meeting people on this trip at random than on schedule, but at least this looks like he's engaged in the situation.
Two good reasons stand out as to why he didn't go to the border. First is security. There's a more than decent chance someone would take the opportunity to go "Bear" hunting and really throw us into crisis. Two is appearance itself. Hear me out here. Despite the criticism of his not going, if he had, it's a sure bet that it'd be slammed as just another photo-op. During Katrina, one of our local news people slammed W for his appearance at the scene, saying on live TV "With all due respect, Mr. President, this is no time for a photo-op." Coincidentally, that newsman disappeared from the station for a while after that, but he's back now.
Oh, and don't forget, Perry's still planning on putting his hat in the ring for 2016. Good, we could use a little comic relief.