'Not a very good huckster': Reflective Biden looks back on big 'mistake'

President Joe Biden reflected on MSNBC late Thursday on what he could've done better and lamented he could've been a better "huckster."

Speaking with Lawrence O'Donnell, Biden was asked about his political approach to the pandemic.

"You said it was stupid — as a joke — that you didn't sign the checks that went out to people from your administration when you were giving Covid help after Donald Trump put his name on the checks that went out during his administration," said O'Donnell.

The host said he suspected Biden took former President Franklin D. Roosevelt's approach to social security checks. When they first went out in 1940 as FDR sought re-election, the checks went out with the signature of a Treasury officer.

"Because it would be indecent and beyond his comprehension that a president would dare take credit for something that was legislated by the Congress and was enacted that way," O'Donnell continued. "Did it cross your mind to put your name on the checks?"

In response, Biden said the thought only crossed his mind because he kept hearing people say back to him they received a check from the president.

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"'The president did that. Why aren't you helping me?'" Biden said he heard.

"It did cross my mind," he confessed. "The mistake we made was — I think I made — was not getting our allies to acknowledge that the Democrats did this. So for example, build a new billion-dollar bridge over a river. Well, call it the 'Democratic bridge' figuratively speaking. Talk about who put it together. Let people know that this is something that Democrats did. That it was done by the party."

Biden then added: "I'm not a very good huckster. That wasn't a stupid thing for [President-elect Donald Trump] to do. It helped him a lot and it undermined our ability to convince people that we were the ones that were getting this to them."

The outgoing president said he likely spent too much time on policy.

"Not enough time on the politics," he said with a chuckle.

Biden said while he probably ought to have done a better job of promoting his and his party's accomplishments, even the thought didn't sit quite right.

"It just seems, I know it sounds so stupid to say, just bad taste," he said, shaking his head.

Watch the clip below or at this link.