Oh, Obama. For so long you have come off as One of Us with your Vulcan salutes and bringing Wookiees to the White House. How could you possibly have confused Star Trek and Star Wars? We find your lack of nerd nuance… disturbing.
For those that don’t know — i.e. those not on the internet Friday afternoon — during a press conference about his discussions with Congressional leaders to avoid the federal spending cuts known as the “sequester,” President Obama said, “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.”
Yeah, “Jedi mind meld”? That’s not really a thing. There are Jedi mind tricks and Vulcan mind melds, but — last we checked — a Jedi mind meld doesn’t exist, they’re not even in the same sci-fi universe.
Twitter immediately jumped on the remark. The Darth Vader parody account sent out a missive saying “Obama just confused Star Trek and Star Wars by saying Jedi Mind Meld. I think it’s time to impeach.” Others chimed in with comments like, “Faux pas, Mr. President! Thou shalt not mix Star Wars/Star Trek metaphors!” Even Spock himself Leonard Nimoy got on the horn tweeting “Only a Vulcan mind meld will help with this congress.”
The White House decided to run with the concept of the “Jedi mind meld,” sending out a tweet Friday stating “We must bring balance to the Force. #Sequester #JediMindMeld” It seemed to acknowledge (and perhaps, try to ameliorate) the crossover faux pas by attaching an image of Obama with the words ”These Aren’t the Solutions Americans Are Looking For” in an appropriate Star Wars-esque font and “To Deny the Facts Would Be Illogical” in a Star Trek font. The twitpic also included the URL wh.gov/JediMindMeld, which links to the president’s plan to deal with the sequester.
Of course on the internet, everyone loves taking a good gaffe and running with it. And Americans need answers. So, naturally, a White House petitions has already been established asking the president to apologize for mixing up his sci-fi references.
“We the people of the United States of America, and Star Wars and Star Trek fans the world over respectfully request that President Obama or a representative of his Administration Apologize [sic] for his mash-up of the two cannons,” the petition, which has two signatures as of this writing, reads. “We understand the stress the Job of President of the United-States [sic] can put on an individual and we understand press conferences are difficult to give. However this is extremely important and warrants clarification on if he intended to say Vulcan Mind Meld or Jedi Mind trick as we must know which he is truly a fan of.”
Your move, Spock Obama.
Nerd Fail: President Obama Mixes Up <em>Star Wars</em> and <em>Star Trek</em> in Sequester Comments
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Nerd Fail: President Obama Mixes Up <em>Star Wars</em> and <em>Star Trek</em> in Sequester Comments
