RNC chair Reince Priebus: Obama hasn't followed through on promises
Updated 3:45 p.m. ET
(CBS News) Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus was on the attack against President Obama on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, calling out the president as someone who is "in love with the sound of his own voice" but who hasn't followed through on his promises.
"He made promises to the American people. He made a promise on the debt, the deficit, jobs, lobbyists, green energy, gasoline... he was the promise king," Priebus told anchor Bob Schieffer. "And he hasn't followed through on any of it, and he went the opposite direction....
"People are looking for real, authentic people in this country to keep their word and this president can't do it."
In the interview, Priebus also defended recent campaign moves by Mr. Obama's Republican challenger, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, including the candidate's appearance with reporters at Solyndra, the solar power company that went bankrupt after receiving federal loan guarantees.
"Solyndra is a serious thing," Priebus said. "And I think highlighting Solyndra, highlighting this president's foray into venture capitalism, using taxpayer money to send to Solyndra of which the directors were donor to President Obama... This is political cronyism in its worst form."
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Priebus also attacked the Obama campaign for a press conference at the Massachusetts State House on Thursday, in which Obama senior campaign strategist David Axelrod assailed Romney's record as governor of the state. Supporters and staffers from Romney's campaign (which is based in Boston), showed up to the event in an attempt to drown-out Axelrod.
"That's the height of a political stunt," Priebus said. "What's the purpose of the Chicago clan going to Boston to hold some sort of political stunt. And for... these tough guys from Chicago to cry about it, I just find it laughable."
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Axelrod, who also appeared on "Face the Nation," defended the press conference and the Obama campaign's message.
"We went up there to make a point about Governor Romney's economic record," Axelrod said. "Governor Romney offers himself as a job creator, a kind of economic oracle, and he's saying the same exact things he said 10 years ago when he ran for governor of Massachusetts.And what happened? Massachusetts plunged to 47th in job creation. They lost manufacturing jobs at twice the rate of the country. They grew jobs at one-fifth the rate of the rest of country. It wasn't the record of a job creator. He had the wrong economic philosophy and he failed"
"I was disappointed that they chose to send a bunch of campaign staff to try and drown out the speakers," Axelrod added. "But you can't drown out the record."
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Priebus, who was appearing from Milwaukee, also addressed Tuesday's recall election in Wisconsin over Republican Gov. Scott Walker, seeking to contrast Walker with the president.
"The difference between Scott Walker and the president is pretty stark... Scott Walker's talking about his record. He's talking about the fact that his reforms are working, that people are getting back to work, that businesses are coming in. People's property taxes have gone down. And you can't keep operating a government that spends more money than it takes in," Priebus said. "Scott Walker's one of these special people that have made promises and kept promises."
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Priebus then turned to Mr. Obama, saying he's "a president who's in love with the sound of his own voice but hasn't been able to follow through on too many promises."
Priebus continued on the attack later in the interview, adding that Mr. Obama has an "inability to lead" the country.
"He's the one who made promises about cutting the deficit in half. He made promises about the debt. He made promises about jobs after spending a trillion dollars. We are living in the Obama economy that was set up by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama," Priebus said. "Barack Obama's going out to rallies... and saying 'Are you satisfied?' As if he's not the president. No, we're not satisfied, and you're the president, and you have an inability to lead this country."
