Why Obama is traveling to Texas to talk about jobs

Isn't the "Texas Miracle" supposed to prove the wisdom of low taxes and little regulation?

President Obama's trip to the Lone Star state may be a forward-looking one for Texas Democrats.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

On Thursday, President Obama visits Austin, Texas, the first stop on his "Middle Class Jobs & Opportunity Tour." On the face of it, "Texas might seem an odd place for Obama to talk jobs and the economy, given Gov. Rick Perry's habit of claiming that he and Republicans are responsible for the state's economic success," says Wayne Slater at The Dallas Morning News.

Indeed, the "so-called Texas Miracle, the state's huge population growth over the last decade and its economy's ability to survive and thrive during the recent global recession," is purportedly based on low taxes, scant regulation, and few services — hardly keystones of Obama's agenda, says Ben Philpott at The Texas Tribune.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.