Apologies mark Obama’s early days in office

Sorry is not the hardest word for the Obama administration.
 
Since Obama won the presidential election, the former senator from Illinois and top-ranking officials of his administration, including Vice President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, have delivered a handful of apologies.
 
{mosads}At his first press conference as president-elect, for example, Obama made a remark about Nancy Reagan that he quickly regretted.
 
Asked if he had spoken with any ex-presidents since the election, Obama said he had contacted all former presidents “that are living.”
 
“I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any séances,” Obama added.
 
Later that day, Obama called Reagan to apologize for what an aide described as “a careless and offhanded remark.”

Biden late last month called John Roberts to apologize for making a joke about the Supreme Court chief justice’s memory.
 
At a press conference with Obama, Biden said, “My memory is not as good as Chief Justice Roberts’s.” Biden, who was about to administer the oath of office to senior White House staffers, was referencing Roberts’s flub during Obama’s swearing-in. Obama appeared irked with Biden’s comment about Roberts.
 
Obama and Biden both apologized to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in January for not giving her a heads-up about the decision to tap Leon Panetta as CIA director. Biden told reporters “it was a mistake” not to consult with Feinstein, who told reporters that the president and the vice president “apologized profusely.”
 
Geithner and former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) recently apologized for not paying their taxes. Geithner’s tax issues led 34 senators to reject his nomination, including four Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Daschle’s unpaid taxes led him to withdraw his nomination as Health and Human Services secretary.

Before he withdrew, Daschle said, “I deeply apologize to President Obama, to my colleagues and to the American people.”

Obama accepted responsibility for Daschle’s withdrawal, telling CNN that he “screwed up.” While he stopped short of apologizing, he said he’d work to prevent a future mistake.

In December, Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau apologized to then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) after embarrassing Facebook photos of him with a cardboard cutout of the former first lady attracted media attention.
 
During his campaign for the White House, Obama apologized for saying the lives of U.S. soldiers in Iraq were “wasted.” He also apologized to a female reporter for calling her “sweetie.”
 
The White House did not comment for this article.