A seven-year-old photograph of Barack Obama associate and onetime radical bombmaker William Ayers stomping on an American flag is all over the Internet, earning criticism from Obama's presidential campaign.

The senator's campaign spokesman said Obama is "appalled by the disrespect" to Old Glory, but decried efforts to associate Obama to the action just because the men know each other.

"Senator Obama is appalled by this disrespect of a flag we love and that so many have fought and died for. There is no excuse for anyone to treat that which we hold so dear with so little regard. But the politics of association required to link Obama to this picture in any way is ridiculous and a silly distraction from the important challenges facing the American people," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.

The picture is from a Chicago magazine article in 2001. That is the same time Obama and Ayers served together on the board of a philanthropic organization called the Woods Fund. It is also around the same time that Ayers donated to Obama's state Senate campaign.

The Chicago Tribune reports Obama held a campaign event at Ayers' home in 1995 as he began his political career. Obama has described Ayers, who was a member of the radical group the Weather Underground, as a guy who lives in his neighborhood -- and the campaign has said they are on "friendly terms."

Click here to view the photograph of Ayers on the U.S. flag.

FOX News' Martin Hill contributed to this report.