Luke Boggs, a writer living near Atlanta, took the time to Google the combination of Obama and regret. His search yielded over a million hits. Writes Boggs:

In November 2006, Obama said he regretted buying property adjacent to his Chicago home from Tony Rezko, a longtime supporter and big-time fund-raiser who has since been convicted of mail and wire fraud, aiding and abetting bribery and money laundering.

In February 2007, as his presidential campaign was beginning, Obama said he regretted saying that the lives of American soldiers who died fighting in Iraq had been “wasted.”

In April 2008, Obama said he regretted his choice of words when he told some well-heeled donors in San Francisco that “bitter” folks in Middle America who have lost economic hope “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them.”

To be sure, these are choices worth regretting. Anyone can understand why Obama would regret his land deal with a convicted felon. And even liberal Democrats like Obama have been careful not to say American lives have been “wasted” in Iraq, even as they imply the same thing when they dismiss the war effort as corrupt, inept, unnecessary and worse.

Obama’s most costly regret, however, may well prove to be his condescending shot at those decent, hardworking Americans he said were desperately clinging to God and guns and bigotry. It was a regret-worthy statement that said volumes about easy contempt for those in what elites call “flyover country.”

Wow. Boggs easily puts things in perspective with this summary:

Perhaps the American people are looking for a regretful guy this time around. After eight years of George W. Bush, whose dogged lack of regrets continues to exasperate his critics, perhaps this sort of intense self-scrutiny and navel-gazing will translate into electoral victory.

But I’m not so sure. After all, a lot of Americans understand that you don’t get a bunch of easy do-overs in the Oval Office. You have to make tough calls, even when they may be politically costly.

I can’t help wondering what Obama might regret in four years as president. What might he regret doing —- or not doing —- on the world stage? What might he regret saying —- or not saying —- to Putin or Kim Jong-il or Ahmadinejad?

Only time will tell. Depending on what happens in November, we may begin to find out next January. When we do, some voters may well have regrets of their own

H/T: Real Clear Politics

Betsy Newmark said this:

He also regrets voting to intervene to save the life of Terry Schiavo. It’s not so extraordinary that a politician would say or do things that later he regrets becoming public. Or that circumstances have changed and he realizes that his earlier words or actions were a mistake. Three or four incidents over a few years isn’t that many. There are probably a lot of people who like that Obama is willing to acknowledge mistakes and move on. Of course, those are people who probably liked Obama in the first place and are sick of having a president who refuses to rend his garments in showing regrets for public consumption. I just wonder if expressing regrets for speaking his mind about “bitter” people or the “wasted” lives of soldiers is enough when there is a real sense that Obama was saying exactly what he truly believes. The regret seemed more that people might have been offended or that his words
were “inartful” rather than that his sentiments have truly changed

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