In a one-on-one interview at his home in Houston, Texas, Sen. Ted Cruz tells David Brody  that President Obama is, “the most radical president we’ve ever seen.” But he also adds that when it comes to our current economic troubles, “an awful lot of Republicans, failed to stand for principle and contributed to getting us in this mess.”

Cruz also points out the following about politicians in Washington: “There are a lot of people in Washington, I think, who desperately, desperately want to be in elected office.”

Sen. Ted Cruz: We’ve got a job and right now I think the U.S. Senate is the battlefield. Unfortunately, Republicans are in the minority. This last election did not turn out as I had hoped, but I nonetheless think that if we had principled, effective conservatives who make the case that the most effective engine, for economic opportunity, the most effective engine for climbing the economic ladder, for helping those with nothing to achieve anything has been free markets, has been limited government has been the incredible, American system. If we make that case, we can preserve that system. And I think that’s what the stakes are.

And so, my focus every day is on the substance of winning the fight, stopping the out of control spending and deficits and debt so that our kids aren’t crushed with those debts and getting the economy growing again. You know in the last four years under President Obama, our economy has grown 1.5 percent a year. That’s less than half the historical average. The historical average since World War II has been 3.3 percent. If we can’t get the economy growing, we can’t solve any of these problems.

If you want to get the 23 million people who are struggling to find jobs back to work, get the economy growing. If you want to transform our federal balance sheet, change it from the train wreck it is right now, get the economy growing.

And so, every day in the Senate, my focus is championing small businesses, entrepreneurs, championing economic growth, because ultimately, economic growth is what provides opportunity, it’s what enables people, like my dad, to climb the economic ladder, to climb from nothing to achieve prosperity. That’s my focus, and I try to pay attention to nothing else, but focusing on that.

David Brody: Too many people choosing politics over principle?

Cruz: That’s exactly right. Look, I mean there are a lot of people in Washington, I think, who desperately, desperately want to be in elected office. There’s an old line that ‘Politics is Hollywood for ugly people.’ And there’s an element of truth to that. You see those in elected office who, the prospect of not being in elected office is terrifying to them.

And one of the sad realities is that it has been career politicians, in both parties, who’ve gotten us in this mess. I think President Obama is the most radical president we’ve ever seen, but I think an awful lot of Republicans, failed to stand for principle and contributed to getting us in this mess, and I think what we’ve seen in 2010 and to some degree in 2012 is a new generation of leaders stepping forward that are committed to fixing these problems.