Mr. Obama, stop tearing down this state

Bill Hammond, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Business, has had enough of Barack Obama's vindictive assault on the Lone Star State, as he makes perfectly clear in this Chronicle op-ed:

Texas versus Washington talk is popular political chatter, but if you move beyond the rhetoric there's substantial evidence that President Barack Obama's administration is waging a strategic and sustained campaign against lives and livelihoods in the Lone Star state .

With all due respect, the president and his administration's hell-bent determination to tear down Texas could be better focused on more pressing matters like reining in debt and reforming entitlements.

The moves against Texas are well documented, some are more bold and brazen than others, and they amount to a war by regulation and executive order that's aimed at knocking Texas off its leadership position.

And lead Texas does. Chief Executive's seventh annual ranking on the best and worst states in which to do business put Texas on top for the 7th year in a row.

Less business-friendly states like the president's home state of Illinois (No. 48) and others sympathetic to his politics and anti-business policies (New York No. 49 and California No. 50) languish in the bottom three spots of the annual survey of the country's CEOs.

I suppose being an economic powerhouse makes Texas an easy target. It's easier to tear down others than to focus on rebuilding America's greatness.

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- JP