Didn't he say what he said on the second day in response to a question? Again, if he was asked directly about his intentions, I think that the second comment makes total sense. I've not seen the question anywhere, but his comment of:
"My intention was simply to let people know what I thought. Which was that in this country we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion. I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That's what our country is about.

And I think it's very important as difficult as some of these issues are that we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about."

seems normal. It seems like something any one of us would say in a discussion here, were we asked again about a previous post. Does it really seem to you as though an answer to a random question is actually a "walk back?" Or two-faced? I could see someone making the case for that in an article, but I still believe that would be twisting the context for the benefit of the audience.