Who’s ‘Dr. No’ of energy?

Parrying Sen. Barack Obama’s attacks on Sen. John McCain’s energy proposals in recent days, the McCain campaign has begun to invoke a little cinematic history, labeling Obama the “Dr. No” of energy.

Dr. No, for those not up on their James Bond villains, was 007’s antagonist in the 1962 film of the same name, the first in the Bond series.

But he may be an odd choice if the McCain camp wants to portray Obama as a naysayer on energy innovation. In his own way, Dr. No was something of a pioneer in nuclear energy. Before Bond disrupted his plans, Dr. No was building a reactor on an isolated island off Jamaica as part of his scheme to redirect U.S. rocket launches from nearby Cape Canaveral, Fla.

These days on the campaign trail, it’s McCain who’s trying to cast himself as the energy policy trailblazer, pledging to help build dozens of nuclear plants if he becomes president.

-- Noam N. Levey