Karl Rove’s Group Portrays Barack Obama as James Bond

In a particularly sharp bit of political mudslinging, the Karl Rove-advised American Crossroads political action committee dreamt up a humorous way to dramatize President Obama’s “hot mic” moment: recreate the incident as a James Bond thriller.

(MORE: Gaffe of the Week: Obama’s ‘Space’ Case)

After Obama was caught last week on a hot mic speaking with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev saying that “[a]fter my election I have more flexibility,” conservatives latched onto the unguarded remark as a game-changing gaffe. Here’s a sample soundbite from Mitt Romney: “This is no time for our president to be pulling his punches with the American people. And not telling us what he’s intending to do with regards to our missile defense system.”

Obama, for his part, mostly shrugged off the incident. But the GOP is making it clear that it isn’t going away.

The American Crossroads ad, first noted by Politico, fashions a low-budget Bond-esque trailer — barely-tweaked suspenseful theme music included — to portray the comment as Obama’s hint that he wants to “gain unchecked flexibility, weaken our defenses and fundamentally transform the world,” the British-accented narrator says, dripping with Hollywood bluster.

Politics aside, the clip transforms the missile defense exchange into an easily-digestible moment of international intrigue. And, naturally, there’s also the addition of a Dr. Evil-looking Dmitri Medvedev and a shirtless image of Vladimir Putin thrown in for comedic effect. Though we’re not entirely sure that the intricacies of missile defense should be tempered with humor.

LIST: Top 10 Hot Mic Moments