During the past week, someone I know showed me an envelope that had been anonymously mailed to a Jewish group here in Philadelphia. It had no return address, but the postmark was somewhere in Ohio. Inside was a packet of photocopies of webpages about how Obama was a secret Muslim, Obama would work to destroy Israel, etc. I was told that this kind of material had been received by a number of Jewish organizations, and the material was being passed around the older members of congregations (many of whom don't have internet access and had never seen the stories before). The younger members of these groups are trying to explain that these are smear jobs, but it's not clear that it's working.
Today, this:
The Clinton campaign is distributing an article in the American Spectator (!) about Obama foreign policy adviser Merrill McPeak and his penchant for.. well, the article accuses him of being an anti-Semite and a drunk. Principally, the author takes McPeak to task for supporting a Middle East map that would require Israel to withdraw to its pre-1967 border. It also makes the case that McPeak supports the Walt-Mearsheimer view of the influence of the Israeli lobby on foreign policy.
The author's sudden conclusion: "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."
As one keen observer pointed out to me, if advocating the pre '67 border map makes one an anti-Semite, just about every iteration of the U.S. government since 1967 would qualify.
I think it's time some journalist starts looking into this.
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