This afternoon, Robert M. Goldberg, vice president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (whatever that is), writing for The American Spectator, charged Barack Obama surrogate, Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak, USAF, Ret., with pursuing an anti-Israel agenda.

McPeak recently in the news charging former-President Bill Clinton with McCarthy-like innuendo, serves as an "Obama for President" co-chair.

According to Goldberg, "McPeak has a long history of criticizing Israel" and its insistence on holding on to territory won during wars with Arab neighbors.

Goldberg quotes McPeak In a 2003 interview with the Oregonian, complaining that the Israeli lobby (Jews) intimidated American politicians from pursuing American interest in the Middle East.

I do not know Goldberg. The Spectator is an unabashedly agenda-driven opinion journal. Having said that, if this assessment bears out, taken on the heels of Senator Obama's Jeremiah Wright problem, this revelation poses another serious distraction for the Obama campaign.

Goldberg writes:

"Obama has a Jewish problem and McPeak's bigoted views are emblematic of what they are. Obama can issue all the boilerplate statements supporting Israel's right to defend itself he wants. But until he accepts responsibility for allowing people like McPeak so close to his quest for the presidency, Obama's sincerity and judgment will remain open questions."

Only time will tell, but this looks like something worth watching.