Obama interview: I messed up over Daschle appointment.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

President Barack Obama has admitted that he "screwed up" over the nomination of Tom Daschle as his health secretary, after Daschle was forced to withdraw his name because of unpaid taxes.

The president toured the news studios of major television networks to deliver his mea culpa . This is an edited transcript of his interview last night with CBS news anchor Katie Couric:

Couric : Mr President, I wanted to start by asking you: Tom Daschle withdrew his name this afternoon, you issued a statement saying, quote, you accept his decision with "sadness and regret." Did you try to talk him out of it?

Obama : Well, you know we had a conversation and obviously that conversation's private, but, uh, it's frustrating for me and it's something that I take …