After weeks of avoidance, President Barack Obama finally came out and apologized for the train wreck that is the Affordable Care Act — after some prodding from NBC’s Chuck Todd.
But Obama is no stranger to the apology tour, having to swallow his pride on multiple occasions and long before he was in the White House.
Here’s a list of 11 times Obama said he was sorry, from his apology to the American people Thursday to his days on the campaign trail.
1. To the American people
“I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me,” Obama told Todd on Thursday after millions of Americans found their health insurance plans had been cancelled because of Obamacare.
2. To the American people … again
“I know the American people are tired of it,” Obama said of the government shutdown during news conference at the White House on Friday. “I apologize that you have to go through this stuff every three months, it seems like. And Lord knows I’m tired of it.”
3. To California Attorney General Kamala Harris
“They are old friends and good friends and he did not want in any way to diminish the attorney general’s professional accomplishments and her capabilities,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in April.
Obama called Harris “the best-looking attorney general” at a fundraiser and called to apologize hours after he made the comment.
4. To Muslims after Benghazi
“I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity,” Obama said at the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly. “It is an insult not only to Muslims, but to America as well – for as the city outside these walls makes clear, we are a country that has welcomed people of every race and religion.”
Obama addressed the General Assembly days after the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the American consulate in Libya, but blamed a YouTube video.
5. To Poland
“In referring to ‘a Polish death camp’ rather than ‘a Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland,’ I inadvertently used a phrase that has caused many Poles anguish over the years and that Poland has rightly campaigned to eliminate from public discourse around the world,” Obama wrote in a letter in June 2012. “I regret the error and agree that this moment is an opportunity to ensure that this and future generations know the truth.”
6. To Afghan President Hamid Karzai
“I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident,” Obama wrote in the letter to Karzai in February 2012. “I extend to you and the Afghan people my sincere apologies.”
The President sent the letter after U.S. military personnel burned copies of the Quran at an airbase in Afghanistan.
7. To Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom
“This is tragic and the United States by all means apologizes to all those who were impacted by this,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in October 2010.
The President called Colom to apologize for a study conducted between 1946 and 1948. The U.S. Public Health Service purposely injected close to 700 Guatemalans with syphilis.
8. To Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
“I hope you know that during my town hall today, I wasn’t saying anything negative about Las Vegas,” Obama wrote in a letter to Reid in February 2010. “…There is no place better to have fun than Vegas, one of our country’s great destinations.”
Reid criticized the President for a comment he made during a town hall in New Hampshire after Obama made it “the poster child for where people shouldn’t be spending their money,” Reid said.
9. To the Special Olympics
“He expressed his disappointment and he apologized in a way that was very moving. He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate this population,” Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, said of Obama’s phone call to him in March 2009. “He, I think importantly, said he was ready to have some of our athletes over to the White House to bowl or to play basketball, or help him improve his score.”
During an appearance on “The Tonight Show,” Obama said his bowling skills were “like the Special Olympics or something.”
10. To Hillary Clinton
“It was a dumb mistake on our campaign’s part, and I made it clear to my staff in no uncertain terms that it was a mistake,” Obama said in June 2007.
When he was on the campaign trail, the then-Senator’s campaign circulated a memo criticizing Clinton’s financial ties to India. The memo was headlined “Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)”
11. To the U.S. Military
“It is not at all what I intended to say, and I would absolutely apologize if any (military families) felt that in some ways it had diminished the enormous courage and sacrifice that they’d shown,” Obama said to a crowd in Nashua, N.H. in February 27.
The President came under fire for implying U.S. troops had died in vain during the Iraq War.
h/t The Hill
