RNC Chair: Obama "is not real anymore"
(CBS News) Four years after the nation enthusiastically embraced his presidency, President Obama's brand is broken, according to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.
"I think Barack Obama's not real anymore to the American people," Priebus said on CBS' "Face the Nation" from the site of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. "At the top of the [Democratic] ticket is a man who sold us a bill of goods and delivered on very little."
Voters, he added, are "starving for... real authentic people that make a promise and keep a promise."
As the Republican convention gets underway this week, Priebus and the GOP are tasked with convincing voters that Mitt Romney is the candidate they are looking for. The focus of the week, Priebus said, will be "telling the Mitt Romney story."
Former RNC chairman and ex-Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour added that Democrats "want to change the subject to anything but Obama's record."
Barbour told host Bob Schieffer that voters recognize Mr. Obama should have been able to work more effectively with Republicans in Congress, and that he is to blame for a lack of cooperation.
"The American people want to know: why don't we have a Bill Clinton? Why don't we have a Ronald Reagan that will go to the other side and get things done rather than make everything political, everything somebody else's fault? It can be done because we've seen it done by two presidents," Barbour said.
"You had a president who was willing to lead and work with the other side," Barbour said of Reagan. "Bill Clinton was the same way... He didn't whine and complain and blame everybody else."
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Also on the program, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., added that voters will focus on the economy and not be swayed by other, divisive issues that have taken the spotlight in recent weeks, such as abortion, due to Republican Rep. Todd Akin's controversial remarks on rape.
"All these distractions, they look at as distractions," Blackburn said. "They're saying, how do we get this country back to work? Tell me what your plan is."
Furthermore, she added that Republicans have gone out of their way to denounce Akin's remarks to try to put the matter to rest. "When somebody commits a 'Biden-ism,' like Akin did - his remarks were indefensible... we do speak out about it," Blackburn said.
