I don't think right- wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate. I think we need a national conversation to get to a better Medicare system with more choices for seniors.

I think that -- I think -- I think that that is too big a jump.

And, by the way, it was not a reference to Paul Ryan. There was no reference to Paul Ryan in that answer.

So let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood, because I have said publicly, those words were inaccurate and unfortunate.

Look, I made two mistakes. First of all, if you back and listen to the question David Gregory asked me, I should have said I'm not going to answer it. It's a hypothetical baloney question that had no hope of happening.

I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or left is a very good way for a free society to operate.

Look, I made two mistakes. First of all, if you go back and listen to the question David Gregory asked me, I should have said I'm not going to answer it. It's a hypothetical baloney question that had no hope of happening. The second was some of the words I used. But I was trying to say something that's really important. We are at the beginning of a process of solving the entitlement problems in the United States. These are enormous challenges. I believe deeply that the American people have to be an integral part of it. I think that what Paul Ryan has done is he has started that process.

I think that -- I think that that's too big a jump.

Newt Gingrich now says he made a mistake when he criticized the Medicare provision of the House Republican budget plan. The GOP presidential candidate called it quote, 'Right-wing social engineering', saying it would impose radical change on Americans.

The challenges we face are so large, that it requires leadership of an unusual kind. I don't believe that any one person in the Oval Office can make a decisive difference. I believe there are 300 million Americans who have to be recruited, educated, convinced, led to work together so that all of us putting our shoulder to the wheel can make a decisive difference.

I found that I was so compelled to seek God's forgiveness, not God's understanding but God's forgiveness. And that I do believe in a forgiving God.