Obama's admission to Brian Williams in an interview today about his handling of Tom Dashcle's nomination to be the secretary of Health and Human Services can now be filed alongside the long history of presidential admissions of error.
Bush (43) just two weeks ago admitted to mistakes in his handling of the Iraq War.
"Clearly, putting a 'Mission Accomplished' [banner] on an aircraft carrier was a mistake."
In reference to Abu Ghraib and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction, Bush said; "I don't know if you want to call those mistakes or not, but they were -- things didn't go according to plan, let's put it that way,"
Of course, Bill Clinton mastered the art of the mea culpa. In 2004, he admitted to making a "moral error" in his relationship with Moncia Lewinsky. But, these recent presidents are by no means unique in their capacity for remorse. Abraham Lincoln was a well practiced apologizer and reconcilor. In this one example, Lincoln wrote to New York political boss Thurlow Weed apologizing for what Lincoln thought might have been a perception of "disparaging" thought from an ongoing disagreement between Lincoln and Weed confident Horace Greely.
My dear Sir:
I have been brought to fear recently that somehow, by commission or omission, I have caused you some degree of pain. I have never entertained an unkind feeling, or a disparaging thought towards you; and if I have said or done anything which could be has been construed into such unkindness or disparagement, it has been misconstrued. I am sure if we could meet we would not part with any unpleasant impression on either side.
Yours as ever
A. Lincoln
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