It’s no secret that President Obama is a bona fide nerd, but during a press conference on Friday, March 1, the POTUS made a major sci-fi blunder.
While speaking about the sequester, the president addressed the problem he was having in convincing the Republicans in Congress to pass a bill to prevent the implementation of cuts that would automatically take effect if something was not done. Obviously frustrated with the situation, Obama explained that his powers of persuasion could only go so far:
“I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that’s been floating around Washington that somehow, even though most people agree that I’m being reasonable, that most people agree I’m presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don’t take it means that I should somehow, you know, do a Jedi mind-meld with these folks and convince them to do what’s right,”
Jedi Mind Meld? Ouch Mr. President! To be fair, maybe Obama was caught up in the J.J. Abrams frenzy of the director helming both franchises that he thought he could bring the two worlds together in one happy bipartisan party.
Trekkies and ‘Star Wars fans’ quickly took to Twitter letting it be known that the POTUS had confused the Vulcan mind meld from ‘Star Trek’ and the Jedi mind trick from ‘Star Wars’ (to be fair, there is a Force meld which is also called a Jedi meld that was first used in the novel ‘Star Wars: Outbound Flight.’).
Check out these other humorous tweets about the President’s blunder:
Obama just said “Jedi Mindmeld.”That sound you heard was Picard face-palming.
— Damon Lindelof (@DamonLindelof) March 1, 2013
Obama just said “Jedi mindmeld.” What’s next, Klingon lightsabers? #Shame #Impeach
— rob delaney (@robdelaney) March 1, 2013
If President Obama was a true Star Wars nerd, he would have dropped this quote instead: “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
— Indecision (@indecision) March 1, 2013
Only a Vulcan mind meld will help with this congress. LLAP
— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) March 1, 2013
BREAKING: Obama combines Star Wars/Star Trek terms by saying “Jedi mind meld,” National Guard called in to quell nerd uprising
— Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) March 1, 2013
President Obama mixes up #StarWars & #StarTrek references. Quick! Get him a TARDIS! oak.ctx.ly/r/2ph8
— Bonnie Burton (@bonniegrrl) March 2, 2013
“Jedi Mind Meld”?? No reaction from GOP, but Obama is banned for life by Comic Con.
— Paul Myers (@pulmyears) March 1, 2013
President Obama just used the term “Jedi mind meld.” And a million Star Trek geeks just felt a great disturbance in the Force.
— Alex Howard (@digiphile) March 1, 2013
Death Star Issues Strongly Worded Press Release Over President Obama’s ‘Jedi Mind Meld’ Incident.
— Mark Campbell (@MrWordsWorth) March 1, 2013
While nerds everywhere where quick with the witty and rather snarky remarks, the White House decided to go with the flow and even tweeted about Obama’s faux pas:
We must bring balance to the Force. #Sequester #JediMindMeld twitter.com/whitehouse/sta…
— The White House (@whitehouse) March 1, 2013
While it is well known that the POTUS is a self-proclaimed ‘Star Trek’ fan, maybe this gaffe will encourage him to allow the White House to reconsider the petition to build a Death Star to make up for the mistake? That is, if he could get that Jedi mind meld to work…