LOS ANGELES — A subdued and seemingly chastened President Clinton visited three African-American churches yesterday in a last-ditch, uphill effort to convince black voters to support Senator Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination over Senator Obama of Illinois.

“For many of us who have waited a lifetime to see America break race barriers and gender barriers, it seems such a cruel irony that we have an embarrassment of riches in this election,” Mr. Clinton told the congregation at the City of Refuge in Gardena, Calif. “I get why this is a hard election.”

The former president’s church tour was aimed, in part, at soothing anger over comments he made recently which some African Americans interpreted as insulting to Mr. Obama and as part of an effort to pigeonhole him as a black candidate.

In light of Mr. Clinton’s complicated agenda, his sales job yesterday was a subtle one in which he talked up both candidates, but stressed Mrs. Clinton’s accomplishments and that her election would also make history by delivering the presidency to a woman for the first time.

“The book of ‘James’ says, ‘Our faith will be known by our works.’… ‘Hebrews’ says, ‘Faith is the assurance of things hoped for,'” Mr. Clinton said. “You need somebody who can make these changes who can turn our good intentions into real changes in other people’s lives. She can do that.”

Gone was the dismissive tone Mr. Clinton took toward Mr. Obama in an arresting interview on “The Charlie Rose Show” in December and in campaign-trail appearances in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Mr. Clinton acknowledged to the churchgoers that he has struggled over how to criticize Mr. Obama without running afoul of the pride many African Americans have in his history-making candidacy. “We got to find a way to have a few disagreements that are honest without having discord,” he said.

Mr. Clinton threw a few elbows in Mr. Obama’s direction yesterday, but they were so heavily padded that some listeners may not have taken them as criticism.

Without mentioning Mr. Obama by name, the former president managed to describe his wife’s health care proposals as superior to the Illinois senator’s plan, which lacks a so-called mandate that individuals obtain insurance.

“She is the only person left who has a plan that will provide universal health care in the United States of America to every single person. No ifs, ands, or buts. Nobody left out. Nobody can walk out,” Mr. Clinton said to applause in the cavernous Gardena church.

At a more intimate worship service in Norwalk, Calif., the former president celebrated and lamented the choice Democratic voters face on Tuesday. “I’ve been waiting all my life to vote for an African American for president … I’ve been waiting all my life to vote for a woman for president,” Mr. Clinton said. “I feel like God has played a game with our heads and our hearts.”

At an African Methodist Episcopal service in the South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles, Mr. Clinton again struck the chord of humility.

“We respect the choices people make in this election and if it can’t be for her we honor that but, for goodness sakes, make your voice be heard,” he said. “Our hearts are filled with gratitude.”

Mr. Clinton never apologized outright for his earlier remarks, but his speeches included an unusual riff on forgiveness. “We should be a country of second chances,” he said.

Parishoners emerging from the South Central service said they appreciated Mr. Clinton’s gesture, but insisted they weren’t swayed. “I was always supporting Hillary,” Cynthia Weaver, 56, said. “It’s not because of race or gender.”

“He made some good points,” Pat McConico, 56, of Los Angeles, said. She said she still plans to support Mr. Obama in part because of Mr. Clinton’s earlier remarks about the Illinois senator. “Clinton made it look bad for Hillary. To me, it was a little bit close to prejudice.”