“Breathtaking.”

In an exclusive, one-on-one conversation I had with the Speaker of House this morning in Newport Beach, that was John Boehner’s response to this amazing statement from President Obama:

“We want to work with you.  We want to help with technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely, and when you’re ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers.  At a time when we’ve been reminded how easily instability in other parts of the world can affect the price of oil, the United States could not be happier with the potential for a new, stable source of energy.”

Why did Speaker Boehner find the quote to be so stunning? Because it was spoken in Brazil, and the President was talking about developing oil and gas resources off the coast of South America!

Our energy industry remains crippled in the Gulf of Mexico, and this President speaks openly about how excited he is about the prospect of increasing our dependence on foreign oil.  Stupifying.

The rest of my conversation with the Speaker, which was all about energy, is pretty fascinating, as well.

How far back has nuclear been set with the events in Japan? What are the House Republicans trying to achieve with their recently-launched American Energy Initiative? How can Barack Obama possibly win re-election with energy at today’s levels? Press the ‘play’ button on the image below to listen to this short, 5-minute discussion:

“If gasoline is at $4 or $5 a gallon, I don’t see how he can win.” That was the Speaker's reaction when I asked how this President thought he could dance around sky-high energy prices through November of 2012.

I agree.

Meanwhile, many pundits are out trying to manage 2012 Obama expectations, saying how difficult he will be to beat regardless of the political and economic climate.

I’m starting to really dislike that narrative. The truth is, the guy has been a colossal failure, and it is hard to image any about-face that could possibly save him now.

Sometimes messages can become self-fulfilling. Let’s stop playing up the idea of how hard it will be to beat this guy, and instead start preparing the American people for a Carter-style landslide— God knows the two of them have enough else in common.

And by focusing on energy, House Republicans are doing exactly the right thing, zeroing in on a topic that is a sure-fire loser for the President. His making such idiotic statements as the one in Brazil over the weekend only adds a huge dose of tragi-comedy to the whole situation.

**Part 2 of this interview will be featured here tomorrow. I asked the Speaker about the budget and his true thoughts about the whether a government shutdown would be good or bad for Republicans. VERY revealing—don’t miss it!