Gov. Rick Perry sent a tough talkin’ letter to Kathleen Sebelius this morning, not so kindly asking the health and human services secretary to tell President Barack Obama that Texas wouldn’t be expanding Medicaid or setting up an insurance marketplace. Both provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Obamacare, if you prefer - “represent brazen intrusions into the sovereignty of our state,” Perry wrote.
The Texas Legislature will have the actual say on whether to expand Medicaid or let some $13 billion of Texans’ federal tax money potentially go to states that want to expand their own Medicaid programs. And if Texas refuses to establish an insurance exchange, then the federal government will do it.
Perry ends his forget you to the 25 percent of Texans who don’t have health insurance by swearing that Obamacare’s “unsound encroachments will find no foothold” in Texas. And then, after a “Sincerely” of questionable sincerity, there it is, the signature, “Rick Perry,” printed in plain block letters except for an eye-catching flourish on the front leg of the “R” that underscores the “Rick” as it loops toward the gently curving tail of the “y” in “Perry.”
Such an odd signature for someone who so carefully presents himself as a squinty-eyed, stand-tall Texan.
I’m not alone in taking note of Perry’s unique signature. Others have done so over the years, and it caught the eye of ABC News last summer when Perry announced he was running for president and he punctuated his announcement by signing an Associated Press news alert informing media outlets that Perry had entered the presidential race. ABC asked Eileen Page, a handwriting expert, to analyze the signature. She said it indicates Perry’s “decisions are much more calculated than impulsive,” and that his signature says he has “a healthy sense of self-worth,” “sees the big picture of things” and is “a steady-as-you-go kind of person.”
“There’s a kind of defiance against authority,” Page told ABC, “which means he doesn’t like to be told what to do.”
Whatever the merits of Page’s assessment, Perry’s signature will always remind me of junior high, and of the handwriting of seventh-grade schoolgirls. The only thing missing is the smiley face over the “i.” Or, more appropriately for Perry’s letter to Sebelius, a frowny face.