"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 and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America. A view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam."

Obama's speech comes after weeks of escalating tensions in the Democratic race, as well as mounting concerns among some party leaders and activists that the contest between Obama and U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) was becoming increasingly polarized along racial lines.

At the same time, the continuing revelations about Wright's comments have triggered a new wave of criticism of Obama from Jewish Republicans and conservatives eager to tie the Democratic candidate to his pastor.

Wright has praised Louis Farrakhan and once traveled with the Nation of Islam leader to meet with Moammar Gadhafi in Libya.

But some Jewish organizations praised Obama's speech.

Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said the specific reference to Wright's anti-Israel views was reassuring.

"From our perspective the specific reference and to condemn radical Islam is a sensitivity to our community," Foxman told JTA just after Obama completed his speech.

In a post to its Washington blog, the Orthodox Union directed readers to Obama's rebuttal of Wright on the Israel point, while adding that the speech was "much broader" than just a rejection of the pastor's remarks and "worth reading in full."

Among those criticizing Obama was former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, who addressed the topic during a convention Sunday organized by the United Jewish Communities.

"The statements that your clergy make when you join give a little bit of an indication of your own sense of right and wrong, and you cannot just divorce from that," Fleischer said, speaking to more than 1,000 donors younger than 45 who are active in the Jewish federation system.

"If my rabbi had made those statements, I would have left the synagogue immediately," said Fleischer, an active board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition. "It really troubles me that Barack Obama only waited until now to speak out about this issue.
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In addressing the same UJC gathering at which Fleischer spoke, one of Obama's top Jewish surrogates -- former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer -- said "we would not want to be judged by rabbis who sometimes say ridiculous things."

"We would hope that we would be strong enough to denounce them, as the senator has done with his pastor," Kurtzer said.