Obama In Star Wars-Star Trek Mix-Up

Barack Obama has angered nerds after appearing to confuse Star Wars and Star Trek during a news conference.

The president told reporters he would not perform a "Jedi mind meld" on Congress' top two Republicans in an effort to reach a deal on the US budget.

Hundreds of science fiction fans immediately took to internet forums and Twitter to point out Jedis feature in Star Wars, while mind melds happened on Star Trek.

The mixing of science-fiction metaphors came after Mr Obama's last-minute meeting with Congress and Senate leaders that failed to prevent automatic $85bn budget cuts.

Mr Obama said: "I am not a dictator. I'm the president.

"Even though most people feel that I'm being reasonable (and) presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don't take it means I should somehow do a Jedi mind-meld with these folks and convince them to do what's right."

Geeks across the world poked fun at the president's apparent mix-up - with some labelling it a 'wookie' mistake, a reference to Star Wars character Chewbacca.

Even Star Trek's Mr Spock, actor Leonard Nimoy, reacted on his Twitter account, saying: "Only a Vulcan mind meld will help with this congress."

But fellow Star Trek star George Takei, who played Lt Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek: The Original Series, defended the president's words.

"Jedis are the guardians of peace and justice and mind meld is the Vulcan way of having the force of pure, clean communication between one mind and another," Takei said on US news commentary programme The Ed Show.

"Well, that's what the president is trying to do-bring those two forces together."