Herman Cain: Obama is only being told what he wants to hear

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," November 14, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: I want to get Herman Cain’s read on this, the former presidential candidate.

And, Herman, one thing that struck me, what the president had to say about Donald Trump and how he thinks he’s more flexible than his campaign appearances would indicate. "I don’t think he is ideological," referring to Mr. Trump. "I think he’s pragmatic."

What do you think?

HERMAN CAIN, CEO, THE NEW VOICE: And President Obama said that, and that was probably one of the most accurate things he said.

And that is that Obama (sic) is pragmatic and he will be pragmatic. He is not ideological. So, I agree with President Obama on that.

This trip around the world, Neil, was supposed to be Obama’s victory lap, as Sarah said...

CAVUTO: Right.

CAIN: ... for Hillary Clinton being elected. It didn’t happen.

And so, in order for him to try and reassure countries that the "relationships" -- quote, unquote -- are still going to be unchanged, it’s going to be very difficult.

What I took away from this that I listened to most of the time was, he still sees the world as he wants it to be, rather than the way it is, just like he saw this country the way he wants it to be, rather than the way it is.

And that’s because I have concluded he’s being cherry-picked and spoon-fed only those few positive things that would allow him to create a narrative to justify his ideological position on everything. And so that’s what I got out of this speech, as well as he is still in denial about some substantive failures like Obamacare that you cannot tweak.

CAVUTO: Well, I think you just hit it there, that the -- it’s OK for a president leaving to try to put his administration in the best frame possible.

CAIN: Yes.

CAVUTO: But that frame, that -- those positions were rejected by the American people and produced Donald Trump.

CAIN: Yes.

CAVUTO: Now, he tended to pivot a little bit to talk about how Democrats have to be everywhere and in each and every locale, talked about his experience in Iowa, when he did that, as if it was a political failure on Democrats’ part to get their ground game on.

I’m just paraphrasing here. But that rejection of the American voter was built more on rejection of his policies than any of Hillary Clinton’s shortcomings, of which there were many.

CAIN: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I agree with you.

And here’s the other difference between Obama -- President Obama and president-elect Trump. President Obama surrounded himself with people that were ideologues, who told President Obama what he wanted to hear.

Donald Trump is the type of leader that will surround himself with people who will tell him what he needs to hear. That’s how he got elected. Look at his first two appointments. He’s been criticized by the liberal media because Reince Priebus is considered an insider and Steve Bannon is considered an outsider.

So what? He’s a pragmatist. He’s going to force those two guys and everybody else to work together. That’s what leaders do when they identify strengths in people and they want to make them part of that team. That’s the big difference between President Obama...

CAVUTO: Well, that’s what he will need to do, right?

I mean, but do you think some of his more rabid fans, those who would walk over broken glass for him to the polls, and many who did, not literally, but would they be disappointed if he couldn’t entirely scrap the health care act, if, in fact, what he did was tinker with it, rather than rip it up?

I mean, he’s already spoken, which wasn’t a pivot, wasn’t a change from what he said on the campaign trail, but would he keep those provisions in there for those preexisting conditions, keeping your kids on the policy longer? That is keeping part of something he said would be repealed.

CAIN: Right.

President Obama, Ezekiel Emanuel, and all of the other architects are trying to change the narrative to tinker in order to maintain some of those provisions. I don’t believe that’s going to happen.

Donald Trump, as a leader and as a problem-solver, understands something that all problem-solvers understand. First, you take the problem and you dissect it into pieces. Secondly, you prioritize those pieces. Thirdly, you then start solving those pieces.

He understands that. You can repeal the entire Obamacare and maintain all of those provisions that President Obama feels so passionate about.

CAVUTO: And keep those 20 million who have insurance.

CAIN: Yes.

CAVUTO: Because the last thing you want is a crisis with that. All right.

CAIN: Exactly.

And one last point, Neil.

CAVUTO: Sure.

CAIN: One last point.

He talks about those 20 million people. He doesn’t ever identify the people who have such high deductibles and have premiums that they effectively don’t have any insurance. That’s what they never talk about.

And I believe that there are more people than that 20 million number than there are who now have insurance who wouldn’t have had it. He’s being told what he wants to hear. And that’s why he sees the world and this nation as he wants it to be.

CAVUTO: Well, he’s flabbergasted over those results, as you can still see in...

(CROSSTALK)

CAIN: You can tell I don’t have an opinion, Neil.

CAVUTO: No, no, I was wondering where you were coming from.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: Herman, always good talking to you. Thank you, very, very much.

CAIN: Thanks, Neil.

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