OBAMA ON DEFENSIVE IN NORTH CAROLINA OVER WRIGHT’S VIEWS

[Reuters]

DURHAM, North Carolina (Reuters) - Racially charged rhetoric by his former pastor has pushed U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama to a place he didn't want to be -- trying to ease white voters' worries about where he stands on race issues, while retaining black support—just days before a key primary election in North Carolina—a state Obama was expected to easily carry due to the large percentage (38%) of black voters among registered Democrats there.

The issue has disrupted Obama's campaign, in which he portrays himself as a uniter after years of American political and racial polarization.

The Illinois senator had been forced again to denounce comments by Rev. Jeremiah White that could increase a growing view among many white voters that Obama is a black radical. At the same time, Obama must carefully avoid offending black voters who up until now have given the candidate overwhelming support.

Wright repeated assertions this week that the United States deserved some blame for the September 11 attacks and said Washington played some role in spreading AIDS to blacks, who are disproportionately affected by the HIV virus.

African Americans interviewed in Durham, North Carolina by Reuters, said they feared Wright's sudden prominence would give white voters a reason to abandon Obama's campaign, the news service reports.

"He (Wright) keeps ringing a bell that doesn't need to be rung and I am saying 'why would he do that?'" said Wilma Dillard, owner of Dillard's Barbeque, a popular restaurant in a largely black suburb of Durham.

In one indication of the damage Wright could cause among white voters, people in a restaurant in Shelbyville, in southeast Indiana, said the pastor made them doubt whether Obama was trustworthy.

"I definitely don't like Obama because of the mess with him and his pastor. I don't think he's been honest about it," said Candace Demmin, 37, as she had lunch with her mother.

"How can you go to a church for 20 years and not hear your minister say something off-color? Either he's heard it and is lying about it, or he's lying about going to church as much as he does," said Demmin. She said she had yet to decide who to support in Tuesday's primary.

Wright's comments are viewed as particularly sensitive for Obama because U.S. politicians running for state or national office rarely dwell on race, which can be a strongly divisive issue, Reuters says.

But if Wright remains in the public eye he could serve to render Obama less neutral in terms of race, said Charmaine McKissock-Melton, a professor of English at North Carolina Central University who supports Obama, Reuters reports.

"It (Wright's controversial appearances) makes Barack seem black and prior to this time he was just Barack Obama .... If you really want to help your candidate why don't you sit down and shut up," she said.