SALON

Friday, Mar 1, 2013 8:02 PM UTC

Slideshow: Nerd Obama

Despite the outcry about "Jedi mind meld," Obama has pretty strong nerd cred SLIDE SHOW

By

Topics: Barack Obama, White House, Star Wars, Star Trek, slideshow,

Slideshow: Nerd Obama

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 12
  • What are some of Barack Obama's nerdiest moments? For one thing, here he uses a "Star Wars" lightsaber to parry with an Olympic fencer in September 2009.

    credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

  • The president pretends to be caught in Spider-Man's web right before Halloween 2012.

    credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

  • Obama does the Vulcan salute with actress Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on “Star Trek” in the 60s. Nichols tweeted the picture in April 2012.

    credit: Twitter/RealNichelle

  • Then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama poses in front of the Superman Statue in Metropolis, Ill., in August 2006.

    credit: obama.senate.gov

  • The president looks through a telescope during Astronomy Night at the White House in October 2009.

    credit: Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

  • President Obama records an episode of the Discovery Channel's "MythBusters" alongside hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, in October 2010.

    credit: Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

  • President Obama or Indiana Jones? The president jokingly tried on a version of the iconic hat during a tour of the Egyptian Pyramids in June 2009.

    credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

  • Obama gets really excited about an “Extreme Marshmallow Cannon" during the White House science fair in February 2012.

    credit: Whitehouse.gov

  • Janet Kavandi, Director of Flight Crew Operations at the Johnson Space Center, gives the president a jacket during a visit with the crew for the Space Shuttle Atlantis in November 2011.

    credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

  • Obama checks out a soccer-playing robot built by a team from Blue Bell, Pa., during the White House science fair in October 2010.

    credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

  • Obama looks through a microscope during a tour of an oncology laboratory in Bethesda, Md., in September 2009.

    credit: Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 12

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 1 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username ( profile | log out )

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Facebook has been used to find ex-lovers, childhood BFFs or the one who got away. He used it to find the guy who, without his consent, made him his drug mule.
182 points183 points | 18 comments
vote
“This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann”
119 points120 points | 35 comments
vote
Poll: 3 in 10 voters say “armed revolution might be necessary” - 29% say they believe they'll have to act "in order to protect our liberties" in the next few years
47 points48 points | 16 comments
vote
Capitalism, not feminism, killed home cooking–and fixing our broken food system is gonna take a lot more than some privileged women embracing “new domesticity”
34 points35 points | 19 comments
vote
"New evidence reveals big banks still illegally foreclosing on thousands of homes – and weak settlement allows it."
26 points27 points | comment

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations