There has never been a public claim I know of that, "We understood the situation and understood that no legislation we suggested would actually be as effective as needed, but for political reasons we decided to not even propose what needed to be passed."
There have been public statements that "nobody knew" (A political term of art meaning "I didn't know" ) how bad the crisis was.
Are those statements themselves political? To some degree, sure.
But the real bottom line is that it doesn't much matter what people in power think in their heart of hearts because they the powerful are defined by real world manifestations.
Or, to put it more straightforwardly, as Biden says, "Show me your budget and I'll tell you your priorities."
There is no evidence I know of that the WH secretly wanted effective measures to deal with a crisis they understood.
That doesn't mean they didn't. Maybe they did. But it kind of doesn't matter what they felt inside if they never proposed or called for right answers. A president doesn't need a compliant congress to say, "This is the right answer and you should pass it."
They won't pass it, but there is great value to speaking the truth and having the right answer at least on the table. Being on the table counts, even if it won't pass. It elevates the visability of the right answer.
All of that said, I don't know that anyone who could have gotten elected in the first place would have done all that much better. It's not like we were alone. They pulled the same bone-headed shit in alost every first-world economy. Europe did as bad or worse. Lots of people "got it" but none of them had power.
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