Well, it's pretty much "bash everybody who isn't you" around here these days.

It looks to me like a 'political' decision. An honest version of the 'clearing up' - the one with Wonder Woman's magic lasso - might go something like:

"The Prez is really sorry people thought he had anything personal against Prince Charles and Ms. Parker-Bowles. He thinks they're OK, but realizes that the American People might be upset. Well, not ALL American people - just the ones who watch the news as if it were a daytime television drama, and are a bunch of busybodies who think they know about the lives of all the 'characters'. The President doesn't want to piss those people off. They hold grudges, and they vote."

(These are the same people who watch news about a trial that's about to happen, and when asked what they think, they say "he's guilty," or "he's innocent." Fer-cryin-out-loud, the jury doesn't even know yet, and they're there.)