The L.A. Times reports on a round of Obama mea culpas:

“This is a self-induced injury that I’m angry about,” [President Obama] added, “and we’re going to make sure we get it fixed.”

To the network anchors he repeated a surprising mantra: “I screwed up.”

Obama’s language was striking in part because the man he replaced in the White House, George W. Bush, famously refused to admit error, at least until his final days in office.

He never admitted error?

Ever?

July 8, 2003:

Amid questions about prewar intelligence, the White House is acknowledging that President Bush was incorrect when he said in his State of the Union address that Iraq recently had sought significant quantities of uranium in Africa.

That one wasn’t even wrong, yet he still admitted error.

September 13, 2005:

Meanwhile, President Bush on Tuesday said he takes responsibility for the federal government’s failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina.

“Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government and to the extent the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility,” Bush said during a joint news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

April 13, 2006:

The White House has acknowledged for the first time that a key moment in post-war Iraq, the declaration by George Bush that “we have found the weapons of mass destruction”, was based on intelligence known in Washington to be false.

June 11, 2008:

On his last tour to Europe as US President, Bush — who once had only one line for opponents: “You are either with us or against us” — conceded that his “gun-slinging” rhetoric made the world believe he was a “guy really anxious for war”.

Bush said he now wished he had used a different tone on the global stage.

In an exclusive interview to The Times, London, the US President expressed regret at divisions in the international community created by the war in Iraq.

“I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric,” he said.

Listing these in one place is like putting out a bug zapper for insectlike lefties coming to gloat about the fact that, indeed, Bush made mistakes.

Yes, lefties, it’s true. Over eight years, he made some mistakes. Your guy will too.

In fact, if his first few days are any indication, he’ll make plenty of them.

Barbara Barker of Newsday is the latest reporter to get suckered by Greg Packer:

The weather was bad. The economy is worse. But that didn’t stop Greg Packer from standing on line for nearly six hours outside a Barnes & Noble yesterday in order to purchase three autographed copies of Joe Torre’s book at $21.56 a pop.

“I had to be here,” said Packer, a Huntington resident who first parked himself outside the Fifth Avenue store where Torre was doing his book signing at 6:30 a.m. “I’m happy with what he wrote, because he spoke his mind for the last 12 years. Why should he stop now?”

Packer was the fifth person on a line that by 12:30 p.m. stretched up Fifth Avenue, snaked around the corner and ran east on 46th Street nearly to Madison Avenue.

Oh, Greg. Only fifth in line?

Waiting for Joe was one of those crazy New York experiences, the sort where one finally gets to know his neighbor.

If any one sentiment — other than craziness — tied this group of waiting fans together, it was an appreciation for Torre’s years in New York. Packer, who goes to many book signings, said this appears to be the most well attended.

Yes, Packer goes to many book signings. He also talks to a lot of reporters. Had you not heard, Barbara Barker?

All this reminds me that my interview with Packer is long overdue. The main thing holding it up is the combination of the three-hour time difference, and Packer’s insistence that we speak by phone rather than e-mail. Maybe this weekend . . .

Daschle is out. And so is the Chief Performance Officer, who had tax liens.

Hey, remember who else had tax liens? Obama’s campaign treasurer. That’s right: his freaking campaign treasurer had tax liens.

That might have been a hint of things to come — but Big Media was far more obsessed with Joe the Plumber’s tax liens.

Apparently, the plan is too socialistic for France:

Prime Minister François Fillon on Monday rejected demands that the French government seek to stimulate consumer spending, rather than follow his plan to stimulate corporate and infrastructure investment, to lift France out of its economic slump.

“It would be irresponsible to chose another policy, which would increase our country’s indebtedness without having more infrastructure and increased competitiveness in the end,” Fillon said in a speech in Lyon.

. . . .

Opponents of the government have been calling for an “Obama-style” stimulus plan, one that puts money directly into the pockets of working people.

When France is more responsible and less socialistic than your own government, it’s time to worry.

Get out your hankies, folks. The L.A. Times is about to start your tears flowing with another sad tale. This time, it’s about our oppressive federal Government seeking to deport a man whose only crime was shooting a rival gang member in an attempt to kill him.

Well, not his only crime. But you know what I mean.

Obed, as his friends know him, is a convicted felon. He used to be a gang member, and during that time, he stubbornly placed himself in the path of danger too many times to count. For many years now, he’s been in a wheelchair — a constant reminder of poor decisions deep in his past.

“One thing that I have in common with Don Quixote is that there’s always a price to pay,” he said once he thought about it. More than a decade ago, Obed was shot and paralyzed while stealing beer from a convenience store in Stanton. A few months later, he opened fire from his wheelchair and wounded a gang rival. His teenage behavior was so reckless, “he should be dead,” says Victor Cueto, his Santa Ana attorney and friend.

I’ll bet $20 that what the L.A. Times describes as “stealing” beer was an armed robbery. First, how many store owners respond to a beer run by opening fire on the unarmed thief? Second, the sentence Obed faced for his attempted murder is consistent with his having a strike prior — like, say, a robbery.

The Orange County district attorney’s office charged him with attempted murder. With several enhancements for being a gang member and using a firearm, he faced a sentence of 50 years or longer.

Not knowing the particulars of his case, I’m not sure how exactly how you get to 50 years or longer — but having a strike prior would double most aspects of his sentence, which would get him closer to 50 years a lot faster.

But never mind all that. He’s now a scholar:

Instead, Obed, who turns 30 today, chose to reinvent himself. He found redemption in the glory of book learning. In November, he earned his master’s degree in English at Cal State L.A.

“He has the wisdom and maturity of a natural scholar,” said Michael Calabrese, a professor of medieval English at Cal State L.A. “He’s destined to be a professor one day.”

It’s a destiny that could be derailed in a federal courthouse next week. On Monday, Obed will face an immigration judge who will decide whether he should be deported to Mexico, the country he left as a baby, for shooting his rival, a crime he committed when he was a teenager.

By teenager, the author means “adult.” We’re told later in the piece that Obed’s attempted murder case occurred in 1998. He just turned 30. Do the math.

Obed’s not an illegal immigrant; he’s a green card holder. But he can be deported for his crime. And he should be. Maybe he is really is a former gang member, and maybe he’s not. (We’ve heard the “former gang member” thing from this newspaper before and had it turn out to be false.) Let’s let Mexico roll the dice on that one.

This guy is lucky that he’s not serving a life sentence for his shooting. He got his break. I’m putting my hanky away.