President Obama may at times get his “Star Trek” references mixed up with his “Star Wars” mentions, but he knows how to poke fun at himself.
Saturday night, at the annual Washington D.C. journalists' Gridiron Dinner, he sent up his screw-up from last week when, in the course of discussing his battle over tax cuts with the GOP, he joked about doing “a Jedi mind meld” to convince Republicans to come over to his position.
Mind melds are, of course, the domain of Spock from “Star Trek,” and have no relation to the Jedi warriors of “Star Wars.”
"After a very public mix-up last week, my communications team has provided me with an easy way to distinguish between Star Trek and Star Wars," Obama stated.
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"Spock is what Maureen Dowd calls me. Darth Vader is what John Boehner calls me," he said, referencing the New York Times columnist and the Republican House Speaker.
Obama even closed his portion of the evening at the event, an annual event that was held this year at D.C.'s Washington Renaissance Hotel, by intentionally making one more mess-up in his farewell.
"And in the words of one of my favorite Star Trek characters — Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise — 'May the force be with you,'" the president said.
Before he left, Obama joked about vice-president Joe Biden, a potential candidate for the presidency in 2016.
"Even though I'm just beginning my second term, I know that some folks are looking ahead to bigger things. Look, it's no secret that my vice-president is still ambitious. But let's face it, his age is an issue. Just the other day, I had to take Joe aside and say, 'Joe, you are way too young to be the Pope. You can't do it. You got to mature a little bit.'"
John Kerry, his new secretary of state, was a target, too. "Let's face it – Hillary is a tough act to follow. But John Kerry is doing great so far. He is doing everything he can to ensure continuity. Frankly, though, I think it's time for him to stop showing up at work in pantsuits."