Barack Obama took the biggest gamble of his presidential campaign on Tuesday when he refused to abandon his controversial pastor, Jeremiah Wright, over the latter’s inflammatory remarks on race and patriotism.

Obama tried to damp down what he described as the “firestorm” over the pastor’s sermons claiming the US brought the 9/11 attacks on itself and that African Americans should sing “God Damn America” not “God Bless America”.

Obama stepped up his condemnation of Wright’s comments, but he also stood by the pastor who has been his spiritual adviser. “I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community,” Obama said.

He sought to turn the row into a wider debate on race relations in the US, saying blacks and whites should rise above such rows to work togethe.

The initial reaction from US political commentators was that Obama did enough to damp down the Wright controversy. But the crunch will come with the opinion polls in some days.

Hillary’s reaction

Hillary Clinton said she had missed Obama’s speech but welcomed the fact that he had delivered it. “I’m very glad that he gave it. It’s an important topic. Issues of race and gender in the US are complicated in this primary campaign,” she said.

Former president Bill Clinton was blamed for first raising the race issue during the South Carolina primary in January when he predicted his wife would lose the primary because black voters would turn out for Obama.

Others on the right kept up their attacks, in a taste of what Obama could face in the November election if he secured the Democratic nomination. Rush Limbaugh, the rightwing radio host, dismissed the speech as “flowery”, saying that the “association with Reverend Wright has ‘de-masked’ Obama.” Surprisingly, Obama would not turn his back on the pastor. “As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me,” Obama said.