US presidential candidate Barack Obama sought to distance himself from incendiary remarks by his former pastor on Tuesday and said comments in which the minister railed against a racist America gave a "distorted view of this country."
The stir caused by the pastor's comments are among a series of flare-ups over race that have roiled the campaign trail as Obama, who would become the first black US president, battles for the Democratic nomination with fellow Sen. Hillary Clinton, who would be the first woman president. The Wright comments have threatened to overshadow Obama's central message that he would bridge divisions in the United States, including those involving race.
"We've heard my former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike," Obama said in prepared remarks from a speech on race and politics.
Inflammatory comments from Wright's sermons have circulated widely in the media in recent day, putting Obama on the defensive. Wright has called the September 11, 2001, attacks retribution for US foreign policy, cited the US government as the source of the AIDS virus, and expressed anger over racism in America.
Wright recently retired as pastor of the Chicago church which Obama attended for two decades. "The remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial," Obama said. "They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic."
The Obama campaign is worried the uproar over the pastor's comments could cost him support with white voters in states like Pennsylvania, which holds an important voting contest on April 22.
Obama said Wright reflects the outlook of older blacks who had grown up under segregation. He said the preacher had brought him to Christianity, officiated his wedding and baptised his children. "As imperfect as he may be, he has been like America to me," Obama said. "I can no more disown him that I can disown the black community."
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