This will be short. Obama's response seems to be that Wright is a good man who occasionally says wrong things. And that he has retired, and so the issue is moot.
I don't know if this will be enough.
Q: I don't know if you've seen it...a statement that your pastor ...made in a sermon in 2003 that instead of singing "God Bless America," black people should sing a song essentially saying "God Damn America."
A: I haven't seen the line. This is a pastor who is on the brink of retirement who in the past has made some controversial statements. I profoundly disagree with some of these statements.
Q: What about this particular statement?
A: Obviously, I disagree with that. Here is what happens when you just cherry-pick statements from a guy who had a 40-year career as a pastor. There are times when people say things that are just wrong. But I think it's important to judge me on what I've said in the past and what I believe.
Obama has responded to Wright's sermons before, regarding his an a "old uncle" who gets carried away and whose excesses should be ignored.
This is not sufficient.
What Barack needs to say is this:
"The Rev. Wright brought me to the love and teachings of Jesus Christ 20 years ago. A man who can do that is a great man, but all men have faults. Any Christian will understand that disagreeing with one's pastor is inevitable, and the Rev. Wright certainly does not expect his flock to march lockstep behind him. He chooses sometimes to provoke. And some of his provocations I do not accept, and consider outright wrong. I cannot abide those statements about America and its role in the tragedies of 9/11. In fact, they are profoundly wrong and I reject them. However, Rev. Wright is responsible for guiding me to my Christian faith, and for that I will be ever grateful."
Only by appealing to the truth understood by his fellow Christians in their own experience with their own spiritual leaders will this be settled. Obama continuously appeals to that which we have in common as opposed to what divides us, and he will need to do that now, forcefully, once again in order to save his candidacy.
Disclaimer: I'm a Zen Buddhist, not a Christian, though I studied Christianity as a Comparative Religion scholar back in the day. If I have mischaracterized any aspect of Christianity, I apologize and will accept any recommendations.