Obama Meets Firestorm By Rejecting Pastor's Remarks

Barack Obama on Friday answered critics’ calls to condemn controversial sermons by his longtime Chicago pastor, issuing his firmest denunciation to date and describing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.’s anti-U.S. remarks as “inflammatory and appalling.”

Obama said he never personally heard Wright preach the statements at the center of the controversy, but he first learned of them when he launched his presidential campaign.

“Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy,” he said in the statement. “I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it’s on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.”

The statement came as critics called on the Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidate to do more to distance himself from Wright, Obama’s longtime pastor and spiritual adviser. Obama has attended the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago for 20 years, and initially stopped short of a full repudiation.

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