WASHINGTON  (AFP) – Republican Mitt Romney told a business luncheon Wednesday one block from the White House that Barack Obama shouldn’t “attack success,” after the president hit out at his rival’s corporate record.

“This is a time when everybody in this administration should be doing everything in their power to support you,” he told a gathering of Hispanic American business leaders in Washington.

“Instead, sadly, President Obama has decided to attack success. It’s no wonder so many of his own supporters are calling on him to stop this war on job creators.”

The remarks were the strongest by Romney since Obama opened up a bitter front in the battle for the presidency Monday by declaring that his rival’s record at the helm of asset management firm Bain Capital was fair game.

Obama’s reelection campaign last week rolled out new ads attacking Romney as a heartless “corporate raider” whose company bought struggling firms, loaded them with debt, had them file for bankruptcy and lay off workers while walking away with millions in profits.

The ads triggered a backlash among some high-profile members of Obama’s Democratic Party, including Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker who called the attacks on Bain “nauseating.”

Romney quipped to the Latino Coalition luncheon that “in recent days we’ve heard a lot about business from the president, and if you’re feeling like you deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act, I can’t blame you.”

“Make no mistake,” Romney added: “when I am president, you won’t wake up every day and wonder if the president is on your side.”

Obama insists his attack on multi-millionaire Romney time running Bain is not only fair game but relevant to the economic anxieties of middle class America.

“This is not a distraction, this is what the campaign is going to be about,” Obama said at a Chicago press conference on Monday.