Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama denounced his former pastor in his strongest language to date today, saying he was outraged by Reverend Jeremiah Wright's assertions about the US government and race.
"His comments were not only divisive ... but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate," Mr Obama told reporters.
"Whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed as a consequence of this," Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama was forced to address the issue again after another appearance yesterday by Rev Wright to combat criticism of his controversial sermons that have, among other things, suggested the United States deserved some blame for the September 11 attacks.
After weeks of staying out of the public eye while critics lambasted his sermons, Wright made three public appearances in four days to defend himself. The former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago has been combative, providing colorful commentary and feeding the story Mr Obama had hoped was dying down.
Yesterday, Rev Wright criticized the US government as imperialist and stood by his suggestion that the United States invented the HIV virus as a means of genocide against minorities.
"Based on this Tuskegee experiment and based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything," he said.
And perhaps even worse for Mr Obama, Rev Wright suggested that the church congregant secretly concurs.
"If Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected," Rev Wright said. "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls."
Mr Obama stated flatly that he does not share the views of the man who officiated at his wedding, baptized his two daughters and been his pastor for 20 years. The title of Mr Obama's second book,
The Audacity of Hope, came from a Rev Wright sermon.
"What became clear to me is that he was presenting a world view that contradicts who I am and what I stand for," Mr Obama said. "And what I think particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing. Anybody who knows me and anybody who knows what I'm about knows that I am about trying to bridge gaps and I see the commonality in all people."
/ AP