President Barack Obama mixed Star Wars and Star Trek metaphors as he explained why he could not force the Republicans and Democrats to a deal to replace the forced spending cuts that kicked in Friday.
President Barack Obama mixed Star Wars and Star Trek metaphors as he explained why he could not force the Republicans and Democrats to a deal to replace the forced spending cuts that kicked in Friday.
"I am not a dictator. I'm the president," he told a reporter at the White House Friday who had asked "couldn't you just have them down here and refuse to let them leave the room until you have a deal?"
If Republican leaders Mitch McConnell or John Boehner "say, we need to go to catch a plane, I can't have Secret Service block the doorway, right?" he said.
Nor did he have the power "somehow do a Jedi mind-meld with these folks and convince them to do what's right".
The president's remarks brought a quick response from the fans of "Star Trek" and "Star Wars", saying "The 'mind meld' is not a Jedi tool from 'Star Wars', but a Vulcan ability from 'Star Trek.'"
An acknowledged Trekkie, Obama has invited to the White House Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played the role of communications officer Lt. Uhura in the popular Star Trek television series and films.
The 'mind meld', as any Trekkie worth his salt, the fans said, will tell you, is a technique "that allows a Vulcan to merge his or her mind with the essence of another's mind purely by using specialised contact fingertip-points".
Jedi knights, from Star Wars, on the other hand, are known for their mind tricks - "a spectrum of Force powers which influenced the thoughts of sentient creatures", according to the Star Wars Wikia.
Quick on the uptake, the White House responded to the mixed metaphor by tweeting:
So did the actor who played Spock in Star Trek: Leonard Nimoy @TheRealNimoy
The official twitter account of Star Wars weighed in.
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