Obama vs. Israel

UPDATED & BUMPED: Brother Nathanael Kapner joins the growing crowd under Obama's bus, as his post is scrubbed from the Obama Web site, but not before Michelle Malkin grabs a screen-cap. Hot Air and LGF have more.

PREVIOUSLY: Barack Obama's official Web site posts an article by "Brother Nathanael Kapner" (?) called "How the Jewish Lobby Works." When I first saw this at Memeorandum, my jaw dropped, and when I saw that it was posted in an Obama "community" called "Socialists For Obama," I fell out of my chair.

Is this what they mean by "Change We Can Believe In"? It's more like answered prayer for Republicans. Socialism and anti-Zionism -- that agenda's not going to win Obama many votes in North Carolina.

UPDATE: An anonymous commenter makes the obvious point that these "communities" are user-generated and do not necessarily reflect the official Obama campaign position. True, but this overlooks some related points:

• Reinforcing negatives -- The very existence of a "Socialists for Obama" community is a liability for a candidate who's already been labeled a radical and a Marxist.
• Live by the sword, die by the sword -- Obama's strong online presence helped him win the Democratic nomination, but now is exposed as a potential weakness.
• The "radical cleric" meme -- Nathanael Kapner is evidently some kind of Eastern Orthodox cleric, thus joining Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Rev. Michael Pfleger in the kooky contingent of religious extremists with whom Obama's been associated.
• Raising questions -- Exactly what is Obama's position on Israel? He went to AIPAC and declared himself a friend to Israel, but then waffled on the Jerusalem question. As tangential and minor as Kapner's anti-Zionist blog post might be, it's another reason for pro-Israel voters to question the sincerity of the candidate whom Ann Coulter routinely refers to as "B. Hussein Obama."
• The Ron Paul problem -- Ron Paul's GOP campaign was plagued with guilt-by-association problems. (There was also his newsletter problem, a related issue.) Paul's candidacy was supported by a number of fringe types, ranging from 9/11 Truthers to the neo-Nazi site Stormfront. The fact that Ron Paul attracted such supporters, and was unwilling to repudiate their support, led to serious criticism that hurt his credibility.

This Kapner thing may be a one-day, Internet-only pseudo-scandal that doesn't even merit a footnote in the history of the 2008 campaign. On the other hand, it may be the tip of an iceberg of image problems that eventually overwhelms the Obama campaign.