"I think certainly what the last three days indicates is that we're not coordinating with him, right?" Obama said to reporters.

"He's obviously free to speak his mind, but I just want to emphasize that this is my former pastor. Many of the statements that he has made to trigger this controversy are not statements that I've heard him make previously. They don't represent my view and they don't represent what this campaign is about," said Obama.

The comments came after Wright's morning performance at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where he rattled off a littany of quotes that are sure to be repeated for Obama in the weeks ahead, at a time when Obama wants to focus on other matters.

Wright's main point was a simple one. The attacks leveled against him in recent weeks are not personal, but more racial in nature.

"This is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright. It has nothing to do with Senator Obama. It is an attack on the black church launched by people who know nothing about the African-American religious tradition," said Obama's former pastor.

Wright repeated for reporters his assertion that the US government invented the AIDS virus as a way to control minority populations.

"I believe this government is capable of anything," Wright said.

It was the last thing Team Obama wanted to hear right now.

While black church leaders in the DC audience gave Wright thunderous applause, the quick review in Washington was that these were not the type of remarks that would help Obama win over white, working class voters.

Obama obviously knew that as he spoke with reporters before the evening news on Monday.

"Some of the comments that Reverend Wright has made offended me and I understand why they offend the American people," Mr. Obama said. "He does not speak for me. He does not speak for the campaign," said Obama.

I'm not going to jump to any conclusions and say that this episode is going to doom Obama. But it certainly doesn't help him right now. Just read a few lines from Dana Milbank's review in the Washington Post:

"Should it become necessary in the months from now to identify the moment that doomed Obama's presidential aspirations, attention is likely to focus on the hour between nine and ten this morning at the National Press Club," Milbank wrote.

I'm not ready to say Obama is doomed. But the Rev. Wright PR Tour hasn't helped.

Not one bit.