WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Thursday criticized Republican-led states for how they handled their economies in recent years and acknowledged that Democrats could have done a better job selling their achievements to voters.
“Red states really made a mistake in terms of the way they handled their economy and the way they handled manufacturing and the way they handled access to supply chains,” Biden told MSNBC host Lawrence O ‘Donnell, in an interview recorded during an explanation of why the administration had “invested more in red states than blue ones” through various measures, shortly after being asked about its economic response to Covid.
In the wide-ranging interview, Biden also reflected on his handling of the economy, which became one of the main issues driving voter preferences in November.
He noted that Democrats, including him, missed some opportunities to better communicate to voters about their involvement in popular programs or infrastructure projects.
Biden said he made a “mistake” by “not getting our allies to acknowledge that Democrats did this.”
If Democratic legislation were responsible for a new bridge, “let people know that this was something that Democrats did, that it was done by the party,” he said.
“Ironically, I almost spent too much time on politics and not enough time on politics,” he said.
Biden also mentioned signing stimulus checks.
He said it “crossed my mind” to sign the checks, adding that President-elect Donald Trump putting his name on the stimulus checks was “not stupid on his part.”
Paper checks for Covid relief payments under a 2020 law had Trump’s name printed on them.
“It helped him a lot and undermined our ability to convince people that we were the ones getting this to them,” Biden said, referring to Democrats’ messaging about subsequent Covid relief.
In March 2021, Biden signed into law a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill called the American Rescue Plan, which injected money into an economy that had been devastated by the pandemic. Congress passed the legislation along party lines.
One section of the law provided $1,400 in direct cash payments to people within a certain income level. The White House had touted the plan as leading to a “historic recovery across the country.”
In his farewell address Wednesday night, Biden delivered a series of warnings about threats to the country’s future, including an “oligarchy taking shape” and “the possible emergence of a technological-industrial complex.”
Thursday’s interview was one of the few he conducted during his final weeks in office. He also gave an interview to USA Today this month.
The White House has not announced plans for Biden to hold a final news conference with reporters, as is customary for an outgoing president.
