Photo via Nichelle NicholsIt’s a good thing President Obama doesn’t need to seek out the genre nerd vote anymore, because in one awkward turn of phrase today, he alienated two very important demographics.
With the federal government headed into a period of forced austerity thanks to Congress and the White House’s inability to craft a deficit reduction deal, Obama addressed the impending sequestration and his difficulty in reaching an agreement with Republican leaders. He said he can’t do a “Jedi mind meld” in getting Republicans to accept a plan that would include some increases in revenue in addition to spending cuts.
“Jedi mind meld”? Well, way for the president to confuse one of the greatest science fiction franchises with one of the greatest fantasy sagas in American pop culture. A Jedi, of course, is member of an order of mystical paladins in Star Wars that sometimes employs mental manipulation to convince adversaries to back down. A mind meld, meanwhile, is a skill possessed by Vulcans, the logic-driven alien race in Star Trek, that requires tactile contact in order for the participants to share each other’s thoughts.
Worst of this all, is that Obama knows better. At right, the president, who has said in the past that he is a fan of Star Trek, can be seen presenting the Vulcan salute with Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Lieutenant Uhura in the original television series.
