Obama Jokes About 'Star Wars', 'Star Trek' Confusion at Gridiron Dinner

President Obama may reportedly consider himself a Star Trek fan, but that doesn't mean he can always distinguish between the universes of Vulcans and Jedi. 

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Addressing journalists on Saturday evening at the Gridiron Dinner, Obama referenced a recent slip-up in which he confused a "Jedi mind trick" with a Trek-universe "mind meld." 

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"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, per the official White House transcript.

"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. 

The joke was in response to a press conference he gave in early March where he responded to a CNN correspondent's query about sequestration by replying that he hoped he could "somehow do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what's right."

Obama ended his remarks at the Gridiron Dinner, an annual event that was held this year at D.C.'s Washington Renaissance Hotel, by intentionally making a more obvious sci-fi mistake. 

"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.