White House Owns ‘Jedi Mind Meld’ Gaffe, Uses It To Call For Sequester ‘Balance’
The White House moved quickly yesterday to rectify a mistake made by President Obama when he mixed up sci-fi film references and dropped a “Jedi mind meld” remark.
Obama made the comment at a press conference to talk about the (now active) sequester. Responding to a question asking why he didn’t just force reluctant Republicans to sign up to a budget deal, Obama said he couldn’t perform a “Jedi mind meld.”
The president’s point was a fair one; however, the fact that he mixed up two pop culture sci-fi behemoths became the story. If you needed proof that geeks really have inherited the earth, simply look at the Twitter furor that exploded after Obama’s gaffe.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, it wasn’t just fanboys and fanboys who were up in arms. ABC’s Z. Byron Wolf, called Obama’s mix up a “sci fi faux pas,” explaining:
“There are Jedi mind tricks, of course, from Star Wars. And there is Vulcan Mind Meld, from Star Trek. But in equating the two, the president erred. He mixed Star Wars and Star Trek.“
Notwithstanding Tech Crunch’s contribution that the concept of a Jedi mind meld does exist in the Star Wars universe in book form, the White House still felt the need to address the mistake head-on.
Mere hours after Obama’s sci-fi snafu, the White House posted a response on their official Twitter account, which may or may not have added fuel to the meme.
“We must bring balance to the Force,” was the message.
The tweet included a photo of the president along with the lines “These cuts aren’t the solutions Americans are looking for” and “To deny the facts would be illogical,” plus a link to a website that promoted “solutions” to the sequester.
As NBC noted, the syntax of both lines substituted dialogue from both the Star Wars universe and Star Trek’s.
What do you think of the whole episode? Was the sequester’s introduction of possibly drastic budget cuts overshadowed at a crucial time, or has Obama’s administration restored its geek-cred and given the nation a bit of light relief?
