House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) delivered a scathing assessment of President Obama's job performance Wednesday morning, labeling him a divisive leader who is running for re-election "by preying on the emotions of fear, envy and resentment."

In a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank, Ryan accused the president of furthering the partisan divide on Capitol Hill by promoting his jobs plan at campaign-style events in battleground states across the country, and by engaging in the same political rhetoric he deplored during his 2008 campaign.

“He is going from town to town, impugning the motives of Republicans, setting up straw men and scapegoats, and engaging in intellectually lazy arguments, as he tries to build support for punitive tax hikes on job creators,” Ryan said.

While on the stump promoting his jobs bill, the president has attacked Republicans for playing politics and preventing the legislation from moving through Congress (the bill was defeated in the Senate two weeks ago). In his speech Wednesday, Ryan attempted to swat down that notion and instead put the blame on Obama. Ryan criticized the president’s plan to pay for his $447 billion jobs bill by raising taxes on those who make more than $1 million as a policy that perpetuates class divisions.

“Rather than raising taxes and making it more difficult for Americans to become wealthy, let’s lower the amount of government spending the wealthy now receive,” he said. “Class is not a fixed designation in this country. We are an upwardly mobile society with a lot of movement between income groups.”

He also dismissed the idea that Americans are more upset with Congress than they are with the administration. “We don’t have the kind of leadership we need,” he said during a question-and-answer session. He called Obama a "divider" and slammed his rhetoric. "It’s very divisive, not good for growth, strikes right at the core of what makes America great,” he said.

Ryan, a seven-term congressman, declined to run for president despite encouragement from some Republicans. However, his policy stances will likely play a significant role in the 2012 elections. Earlier this year, he introduced a budget plan that would make drastic changes to Medicare and Medicaid. Democrats have sharpened their attacks on Republicans by framing the plan as one that threatens the middle class and senior citizens. The theme is already playing out in many congressional races across the country.

Ryan defended his plan Wednesday and accused Democrats of politicizing it. “Our proposals to modestly income-adjust Social Security and Medicare benefits have been met with sheer demagoguery by leading members of the president’s party,” he said.

After his speech, Ryan was asked to elaborate on the notion, recently put forward by Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, that nobody gets rich on his or her own and that wealthy Americans need to give back. Ryan described this as “the fatal conceit of liberalism."

He continued: "We’re coming close to a tipping point in America where we might have a net majority of takers versus makers in society, and that could become very dangerous if it sets in as a permanent condition."

Ryan, though, refrained from criticizing the Occupy Wall Street protests sweeping the country. “I think it’s fine that people want to petition and air their grievances as long as nobody gets hurt. . . . I’m not precisely sure what policies they are shooting for," he said.