RNC chair: Obama is ‘our’ Italian cruise ship captain

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus thought Sunday morning that President Barack Obama merited being compared to Francesco Schettino, the captain of the turned over cruise ship in Italy.

Appearing on CBS’ Face the Nation, Priebus pivoted from a discussion about the GOP presidential primary and offered his comparison to a bemused Bob Schieffer.

“We’re going to talk about our own little Captain Schettino,” Priebus said. “Which is President Obama who’s abandoning the ship here in the United States and is more interested in campaigning than doing his job as president.”

“What did you just say? What did you call President Obama?” Schieffer asked.

“I called him Captain Schettino, the captain that fled the ship in Italy,” Priebus replied. “That’s our own president who’s fleeing the American people and not doing his job and running around the country and campaigning.”

Schettino has been arrested and is facing multiple changes, including manslaughter and abandoning ship.

WATCH: Video from CBS News, which was broadcast on January 29, 2012.