President Barack Obama Friday mixed up his Star Trek and Star Wars metaphors, prompting a host of tweets from parents’ basements everywhere. The president, in talking about the failure of Republicans and Democrats (but mostly Republicans) to come to a meeting of the minds over the sequester, told reporter he could not engineer a “Jedi mind meld” on his opponents.
Of course, it is a “Vulcan mind meld,” and a Jedi mind “something or other” than allows you (as in you, the Jedi) to influence others’ minds.
CNN noted the amalgam in a report Friday that included clips from both Star Trek and Star Wars.
The White House has a sense of humor, though. To out more about the sequester, whose absurdity reminds me more of the Star Trek “Shore Leave” episode, click on whitehouse.gov/jedimindmeld.
Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.
