If you read any interview with Lucas from 1973-1980 he says how much he hates directing. Then if you read any interview from 1981-1985 he says that doesn't hate directing, he just finds himself in a position to produce. Then if you read any interview from 1986-1993 he says how much he wants to return to directing. Even though he finds the actual on-set production to be not so stimulating, he had indeed be itching to direct, and in many many interviews from the mid and late 90's he says that he loved returning to directing. Even in April 1999, when he spoke to the Star Wars Insider before TPM even came out he says that he had already decided to direct the next two films because as soon as started filming TPM he realised how much he enjoyed it. Thats also why he directed some of Young Indy in 1992 and 1993, because he wanted to direct but only if he could enjoy it and in both examples are a well organised, low-stress product.

As for his "I may have gone too far," he's talking about the overall wildness of TPM--the characters, the editing and the effects. His only solution, since everything has already been shot, is to simply re-edit it to lessen the pace and relief some of it. This is best revealed in a meeting with McCallum that takes place shortly after: "I've done it more extremely than i've done it in the past and the film is designed to be that way so you can't undo that. But we can lessen the effect of it [through editing]. I mean if its intense for us a regular person is going to go nuts."