Report: Bill Clinton sounds contrite note

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Former President Bill Clinton sounded contrite in Los Angeles Sunday for remarks he made about Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, a report said.

Clinton has come under criticism for comments he made in January in which he referred to Obama's characterization of his opposition to the Iraq war as a "fairy tale." He has also been criticized for comparing Obama's victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary to a primary victory in the same state for civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.

In speeches Sunday at three Los Angeles-area African-American churches, Clinton did not mention the controversy surrounding his comments, but he sounded chastened, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Instead, he emphasized the historic nature of the race for the Democratic nomination, in which the only two candidates remaining are Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton -- a black and a woman.

"I say that to remind us that we have to find a way to choose without division," he said. "To disagree without discord."

The former president told an audience if they can't support Hillary Clinton, "we honor that."