Yes internet, there really is a Jedi mind meld (but we doubt the president knew that.)

A moment of levity struck the internet earlier today, when in a speech on the otherwise deadly-serious (and completely off-topic here) subject of sequestration, President Barack Obama used the term “Jedi mind meld” – crossing the streams of Star Wars and Star Trek and igniting the internet in geek ‘rage.’

Of course, as anyone who made the slog through the New Jedi Order novels will tell you, there actually is a Jedi mind meld. Bloomberg went to the master, Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo:

And though Hidalgo — chuckling throughout the entire interview — suspects it was probably a mixup of of Star Wars and Star Trek, he can’t be 100 percent sure. While there’s no evidence the president of the United States reads or has read Star Wars books, or is conversant in extended Star Wars lore, Hidalgo said, “he may have tipped off deeper knowledge than anyone may have suspected.”

Hey, you’d laugh, too. At this, if nothing else:

You’d be surprised how many Star Wars manuscripts I’ve seen mentioning photon torpedos and warp drives.

— Leland Chee (@HolocronKeeper) March 1, 2013

As for the White House, they wasted little time marrying the two Star franchises with their message. If only the political forces were so compatible.