Washington (AP) Barack Obama is looking to get his campaign back on track today after making a strong effort to distance himself from his controversial former pastor.

An angry Obama told reporters yesterday he was “outraged” by what he called a “performance” by Wright at the National Press Club in Washington on Monday and added that he was “saddened by the spectacle.”

Wright used the forum to reiterate some of his charges against the U.S. Government, including his suggestion that the government invented the AIDS virus to destroy “people of color.”

Obama calls the comments “divisive and destructive” and says “they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate.”

The Illinois senator will hold a major rally tonight at Indiana university six days before crucial democratic primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.