The controversial pastor who roiled Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign this week shook hands with former President Bill Clinton at the White House nearly 10 years ago, according to a photo published on The New York Times' Web site.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose controversial comments spurred Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, to give an emotional speech about race in America on Tuesday, attended a prayer breakfast at the White House in 1998, the photo shows.

New York Sen. and former first lady Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign accused the Obama team of circulating the picture for political purposes.

"Less than 48 hours after calling for a high-minded conversation on race, the Obama campaign is peddling photos of an occasion when President Clinton shook hands with Rev. Wright," a Clinton campaign spokesman said.

"To be clear, President Clinton took tens of thousands of photos during his eight years as president."

The Obama campaign shot back, accusing the Clinton team of pushing the Wright story to knock Obama's lead in the race to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

"After their top surrogates pushed this storyline, and Senator Clinton's campaign outlined this as a central strategy in her plan to overturn the will of Democratic voters, I can see why they wouldn't want a photo out there that shows the kind of hypocrisy we've all come to expect from their campaign," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in an e-mail.

He confirmed that the campaign had circulated the picture.

Clinton and her advisers have deflected questions about Obama's relationship with Wright all week. Clinton said on Thursday that Obama's speech on race had been important.

"I commend him for making the speech. I thought it was a very important speech," she told reporters.

Obama sought to quell a political firestorm with his address after news outlets called attention to sermons by Wright at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, which the Illinois senator attended for two decades.

Wright, who retired recently, has railed that the September 11 attacks were retribution for U.S. foreign policy, called the government the source of the AIDS virus and expressed anger over what he called racist America.

HERE

Fri Mar 21, 2:54 AM ET

Former President Bill Clinton speaks to reporters after voting for his wife during the presidential primary election in Chappaqua, New York, February 5, 2008. The controversial pastor who roiled Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign this week shook hands with former President Clinton at the White House nearly 10 years ago, according to a photo published on The New York Times' Web site.

(Mike Segar/Reuters)