Santorum: 'No buck ever seems to stop with Obama'

Former senator: Scandals show Obama is antithesis of Truman, doesn't like to micromanage Washington, doesn't like to take responsibility, prefers to play politics

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," June 12, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: President Obama hitting the road today from Boston to Miami, out hustling for money. No, not to pay down the national debt, but for his party and his pals. These were all fund-raisers. Good timing or is it bad timing?

Former senator Rick Santorum joins us. Good evening, sir.

RICK SANTORUM, FORMER SENATOR/FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How are you, Greta?

VAN SUSTEREN: I'm very well. And presidents of both parties spend a lot of time fund-raising, help build up the party, help win different -- the House or the Senate back, whatever it might be.

But today, the president hitting three. Bad timing for him, or it just doesn't matter in terms of he's going to do it sometime? They all do.

SANTORUM: Well, I don't think it's a good time in the midst of all of these scandals. But it really is the way the president operates. I mean, the president likes to be out of Washington. He likes to go out and raise money and play politics. I mean, that's -- that's what he's very good at. He's very accomplished at it.

He doesn't -- doesn't particularly care to micromanage things in Washington. He doesn't particularly like to take responsibility for the things that are going on there. And so if he stays out and he gets into the political realm, gets in campaign mode and can fire up his troops and continue keep his base energized, that's really, I think, the ultimate game plan here.

VAN SUSTEREN: You know, I guess it's the sort of the visual about fund-raising, but I suspect on the flight from Boston to Miami on Air Force One -- it's a fully equipped White House -- I mean, that I assume that he's doing some business. Would you not assume there was some business is going on?

SANTORUM: Oh, I'm sure. Look, I mean, the president's obviously -- we all are, not just the president, we're all in constant touch. That's part of our problem as a society is that we're -- we're always on and we're always available, and certainly, the president is no different than that.

But look, when you're out there on the campaign trail, is what he's doing right now, you're focused on the campaign. I mean, when you're on Air Force One, I suspect that there'll be candidates who will be on the plane with him, will be visiting with him, will talking about the next event. And so you're out there on the stump, which is he is today, you're going to be fairly concerned with what's going on in your day. You're not going to be paying a whole lot of attention to minutias that's happening in Washington.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you see any indication he's sort of hands-on in terms of looking at these different scandals or alleged scandals that are developing, or is he trying to keep some distance and (INAUDIBLE) smart and just sort of let them play out, as they may very well be, or should he be doing something?

SANTORUM: Well, I mean, it's -- you know, the president's reaction, every time a new scandal comes in -- Well, I didn't know anything about it. I mean, I -- I mean, who me? I mean, I -- you know, this is all news to me.

I mean, he is the -- you know, he is the antithesis, unfortunately, of a great Democratic president when it came to the issue of responsibility, Harry Truman, who said the buck stops here, and there is absolutely no buck stopping anywhere near President Obama's desk, in his opinion, that if there's something going wrong in the administration, it's somebody else's fault. And he hops out on the campaign trail to make that point, to rally his base and say he's being treated unfairly and get his people all energized to storm Capitol Hill.

VAN SUSTEREN: What difference does it make to him? He can't -- he can't run for president again. He's in his second term. As far as we can see, that health care is going forward, although I -- you know, we do anticipate lots of problems. Those exchanges aren't set up. And of course, there are a lot of people complaining about rates going up. And there's, you know, some people like some of the health care. They like some aspects of it. But some really hate it.

What difference do all of these sort of scandals even make to the president?

SANTORUM: Well, I think you make -- you make a very good point, Greta, that there's going to be something that's going to overwhelm all these scandals here in the next few months, and that is the implementation of "Obama care." And you know, maybe what he's doing is raising money because, you know, they're going to have to fight back.

You're going to see huge premium increases. You're going to see people are going to lose their insurance. You're going to see, you know, horrific situations with businesses dropping their insurance.

This is going to be a nightmare for the Obama administration. You're right, states are not going to be ready with these exchanges. It's going to be a problem.

And maybe what the president's doing is really smart in the sense that he's going out there, raising money to be able to battle what he knows is going to be really the Waterloo for him in politics and certainly for the 2014 election, which is astronomical health care -- health insurance increases, a drop in the number of insured, and a real destabilization of the economy that's going to come as a result of that.

So maybe this is just his way of preparing for it. And he sees, I think, maybe realistically, that these scandals are short-term and "ObamaCare" is a long-term problem for him.

VAN SUSTEREN: You know, I always sort of -- also, we all -- you know, we talk about people's rates going up and what businesses, but there are also a lot of people who work at sort of businesses especially like fast food or something, where their hours may get cut so that they come under the threshold...

SANTORUM: Yes. Sure.

VAN SUSTEREN: ... or a business that may have 49 employees may put a hold at 49 employees so it doesn't, you know, rise above a threshold. So there's -- there's also a little bit of a damper around the margins for certain people and it's -- and it -- you know, it could be very painful for them.

SANTORUM: There's no question that people will lose their insurance as a result of this. People will lose -- as you mentioned, they'll lose their jobs as a result of this or they won't be hired as a result of companies refusing to grow. People will get part-time jobs instead of full-time jobs.

And of course, you're going to have the people who have insurance are going to see tremendous increases or they're going to see their insurance be cut and having to go off into these exchanges, which everything I hear - - and I talk to a lot of insurance companies because I'm trying to stay on top of this as much as I can.

And they're telling me, you know, the schedule the Obama administration has for the implementation, just the -- the technology that they're trying to implement to process claims and to -- and to -- and to distribute -- to do benefits simply it cannot work in the timeframe that they're suggesting. This could be a major disaster for the administration coming forward!

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, you served in the Senate. Let me ask you a quick question on Clapper. We only have 30 seconds left -- and his exchange with Senator Wyden. Do you think Mr. Clapper is the best for the job?

SANTORUM: Look, I think the president has put in people who are politically attuned to the president, who -- and have been very good in apologizing for this president and shilling for him but are not the best people to do the job. There's no question in my mind about that.

VAN SUSTEREN: Does that mean Clapper should go?

SANTORUM: Well, if...

(CROSSTALK)

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you have any problem with his testimony before -- if his testimony was false before -- before the Senate, and I think it was false -- I don't know what you think -- should he go?

SANTORUM: Well, I think Eric Holder's testimony was false, too! I mean, let's fire the attorney general.

VAN SUSTEREN: Should both go?

SANTORUM: Well, look, if your -- if -- if you -- if there is an actual case of your lying to Congress, obviously, the president should consider whether they want people who have perjured themself before Congress in their cabinet. I certainly wouldn't want anybody who's done that in my cabinet.

VAN SUSTEREN: Does that -- is that sort of an easy, soft way to say they should -- they should be gone?

SANTORUM: Well, lets put it this way. I wouldn't have any perjurer in my cabinet! And I wouldn't want people to come and lie on behalf of this -- of my administration before -- before the Congress. And I would think a president who campaigned on being the most honest, ethical and transparent president in the history of the country would immediately act on such -- on such -- such testimony.

VAN SUSTEREN: Senator, thank you, sir.

SANTORUM: My pleasure.