Sununu: Young people beginning to understand Obama has done them no favors ... president likes job perks, not responsibilities

Soaring rhetoric no longer works for Obama

President Obama's woes continue with personal record lows in overall approval numbers as Americans can't ignore turmoil abroad and economic uncertainty at home

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," August 6, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: You might want to sit down before you hear this. So, are you sitting? Here it is. 76 percent of American adults lack confidence that their children's generation will have a better life than they do.

That is according to the latest "Wall Street Journal"/NBC News poll, and former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu joins us.

76 percent. Another number, 71 percent of the country thinks we're on the wrong track.

JOHN SUNUNU, FORMER NEW HAMPSHIRE GOVERNOR: Look, these have been tough years for the American family. The parents and the grandparents are understanding it.

The amazing thing is there's an increase in the same number that young people are beginning to understand that this administration has done them no favors, has cost them job opportunities, taken $2,000 to $3,000 a year out of their pocket with ObamaCare, has created a tax burden on them they will have to pay the rest of their life because of the $7 trillion new dollars in debt. They're beginning to understand that, Greta. It is a shame this administration doesn't seem to want to acknowledge (A) Their responsibility for that and (B) Make any effort to change it.

VAN SUSTEREN: And you say administration. Do you mean President Obama?

SUNUNU: President Obama.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you get the sense that he -- it's an ideology, or he doesn't know how to do this, or that the Republicans are opposing him, which happens with every president, you get an opposing political party. What is this?

SUNUNU: There are two things. One, I don't think he has a sense of how serious the problem is. Believe it or not, there is an isolation that occurs in the White House and he doesn't know what's happening. And (B) what he does know about, he has absolutely no idea how to deal with it.

VAN SUSTEREN: If you look at this press conference tonight and the one he had right before he went on vacation a year and a half ago, he acts to me like he lacks -- he doesn't have a fire in the belly for it. I think the fire in the belly would be important to inspire the American people. It inspires business and makes people think we can fix things. You hear these numbers like 76 percent lack confidence, the next generation, 71 percent say we're on the wrong track, you feel like, well, it's over.

SUNUNU: I think he came into the presidency thinking all he had to do is enunciate grand goals and it would be done. Unfortunately, the presidency demands more. It demands interaction with Congress that he has not done.

VAN SUSTEREN: Why hasn't he done that?

SUNUNU: I don't know. He came out of the Senate. He was sort of aloof while he was there. If you talk to his colleagues, both parties, they'll say he didn't even interact with them as part of the Senate. Now, as president -- you've got to work hard talking, first of all, to your own Democratic leadership, and then you've got to bring the Republicans down and talk to them a lot. You can't have a meeting with them and then abuse them in the next news conference. There's an art form to working with them. Bill Clinton knew how to do it. Lyndon Johnson knew how to do it. George Herbert Walker Bush actually knew how to do it. This president doesn't like doing it, so he doesn't.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you think he even likes the job?

SUNUNU: He likes the perks of the job, but he doesn't like the responsibilities of the job.

VAN SUSTEREN: I think he's just found it to be a very different job than he ever wanted, that's what I think.

SUNUNU: I think he's discovered it's work that he never counted on having doing.

VAN SUSTEREN: Those numbers are bleak.

Anyway, Governor, always nice to see you, sir.

SUNUNU: Thanks for having me.