Yet, there is a reason that prior inhabitants of the office had been loath to admit error, given the way in which such an admission can undercut the power and the mystique of the presidency, a point that Obama’s own advisers did not dispute.

And Obama may find that this is not a well that he can return to so easily. Obama has to be particularly careful not to do anything to feed any public concern that he might not be quite ready for this job, which was precisely the argument used against him in the presidential campaign.

And there is another reason previous presidents were reluctant to admit wrongdoing.

“He’s saying the buck stops with him,” said Mark McKinnon, who was a longtime advisor to Bush. “But, the bucks can start piling up pretty fast on this job if you’re going to take the heat for every miscue.”