This argument is best understood through the framework of actor-network theory as developed by Bruno Latour. For it is the Jedi Meld, rather than its more familiar cousins, which would allow Obama to be as effective as he suggested he would like to be, and arguably the only one which allows him to be effective in the particular way he describes. Jedi Mind Tricks, according to Wookieepedia, “refer to a spectrum of Force powers which influenced the thoughts of sentient creatures” the Vulcan Mind-meld, according to Wikipedia, “is a technique for sharing thoughts, experiences, memories, and knowledge with another individual.”īoth are powerful methods of influence, to be sure, but neither fully captures what Obama was suggesting when he said he could not “do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do whatâ€™s right.” (emphasis added) Rather, the most appropriate method for Obama would be a Jedi Meld. Indeed, its recovery and redevelopment, principally by the Solo children, was an important turning point in the Yuuzhan Vong War as chronicled exhaustively in the New Jedi Order series.īut not only is the Jedi Meld, through general acceptance and uncontroversial use, authoritatively established within the official Star Wars universe: it was the right reference for Obama to make. In Outbound Flight, a novel written by the prolific Timothy Zahn, the Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth instructs a young Anakin Skywalker that the Jedi Meld “ permits a group of Jedi to connect their minds so closely as to act as a single person.” (emphasis added)Īccording to Wookieepedia, the Jedi Meld was deployed by dozens of Jedi, including (but not limited to) Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade Skywalker, and Anakin, Jacen, and Jaina Solo, across dozens officially-licensed books. Obama did not, as Jardin claimed, “blow” his reference: he was more correct than any of his critics could possibly imagine.įirst, as a friend pointed out, there is a Jedi Meld well established within the admittedly capacious but nonetheless official contours of the Star Wars: Expanded Universe.

Out of a nascent sense of patriotism, and animated by the spirit of my friend Matt Stempeck’s LazyTruth, I now reluctantly but firmly step forward in defense of my President against these reckless and ill-founded accusations.

Jim Kuhnhenn of the Associated Press wrote that Obama “â€¦mixed his sci-fi metaphorsâ€¦The Jedi reference comes from Star Wars, and the mind meld from Star Trek.” Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing wrote that the President “tried to drop a gratuitous nerd culture referenceâ€¦and blew it.” #ObamaSciFiQuotes began trending on Twitter, mocking Obama for his apparent misstep. Various commentators immediately criticized the President for, as they say, crossing the streams. “I’m presenting a fair deal, the fact that they donâ€™t take it means that I should somehow, you know, do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do whatâ€™s right.” Today, during a heated discussion on the sequester, a frustrated President Barack Obama made the following statement to the press corps as they challenged him to show more leadership in negotiations:

Obama mind meld