Barack Obama Strongly Denounces Jeremiah Wright

Barack Obama was forced to address the significant issue after an appearance by Jeremiah Wright on Monday at the National Press Club in Washington.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama strongly denounced his former pastor on Tuesday, saying he was outraged by assertions made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright about the U.S. government and race that have disrupted Obama's presidential campaign.

The controversy over Wright has been a major stumbling block for the Illinois senator, who is leading New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in the state-by-state contest for the party's nomination for the November election.

Barack Obama was forced to address the issue after an appearance by Wright on Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, where he repeated earlier suggestions that the United States deserved some blame for the September 11 attacks and that the government had had a hand in spreading AIDS to blacks.

"I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw," Obama said. "The person that I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate."

Wright's comments have undercut the campaign of Obama, the son of a white mother and a black father who has based his campaign on a promise to unite the country after years of sharp political and racial divisions.

Wright had also questioned the senator's honesty, saying he had been pandering to voters when he earlier denounced the pastor's words. "If Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected," Wright said.