The Hill News

President Obama is big on speeches but short on substance, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus said.

Priebus, in a sit-down interview with The Hill, accused the president of being infatuated with his own considerable speechmaking abilities, but having done little do back up his words.

"Obviously this president is tone-deaf when it comes to the debt, the deficit and jobs and the economy," the RNC chairman said. "He certainly loves speeches, but he apparently doesn't like following through on much of anything when it comes to our economy."

Republicans have grumbled about Obama's lack of any formal, written deficit reduction plan beyond his 2012 budget, which is widely viewed as a non-starter on Capitol Hill. The president delivered a big speech on his views of addressing deficits and debt, which Republicans derided as a political attack because of its lack of any accompanying plan.

"We need to save our ! country from an economy that is facing great peril, and a president that is basically in love with the sound of his own voice," said the RNC chief, who's still just four months into his job.

Rather, Obama announced in the speech that he was forming another group of lawmakers, led by Vice President Biden, to negotiate a deal. That group met for the second time on Tuesday, and it's not clear whether it will be able to produce a compromise plan that could pass through Congress. (The president empaneled a fiscal commission last year whose recommendations were ultimately ignored by Obama and most lawmakers.)

In any case, Priebus stressed that the time for speeches is over.

"I think people are sick and tired of speeches, and they want a president of substance," he said. "And in regard to the economy, they're not seeing that from President Obama."