Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters thinks Barack Obama blew his big chance with yesterday's speech, justifying instead of rejecting his Pastor's hateful rhetoric, and offers an example of what the candidate could have said to pull his chestnuts out of the fire:

Rev. Jeremiah Wright has been part of my life for twenty years, and no one has had a bigger impact on my faith than he. However, I am quitting his church, because his kind of hateful rhetoric is part of the problem in our country, and race relations will never improve as long as black people condone speeches that continually blame white people and the United States for all the world's ills.

America has given me, my wife, and my family almost unthinkable opportunities, and we are extraordinarily grateful. Such is available to all in our nation that are willing to work hard. In fact, what the success of my presidential campaign up to this point demonstrates is that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is very close to becoming a reality.

Of course, there is still a lot left for us to do for his vision to fully materialize. First and foremost, African-Americans around the country must immediately denounce the anti-American and anti-white rhetoric that is so common in our churches and our music. If we really want there to be one America, we have to start behaving like that's the case rather than constantly depicting ourselves as victims.

When I am president, I will work tirelessly to make this happen. Thank you, and God Bless America.