NY Bloger

President Barack Obama joined high-profile celebrities at the White House for the Kennedy Center Honors that recognise those who have defined culture through the arts.

Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro, Mel Brooks, Grace Bumbry and Dave Brubeck all received the prestigious laurel. Obama said of Springsteen: “I’m the president, but he’s The Boss.”

Continuing the Obamas’ passionate support of music that began with their inauguration, the president also said: “These performers are indeed the best. They are also living reminders of a single truth – and I’m going to steal a line from Michelle here – the arts are not somehow apart from our national life, the arts are the heart of our national life.”

The Kennedy Honors are also a living memorial to the late President John F Kennedy. Jon Stewart launched the Springsteen recognition, saying: “I’m not a music critic, nor historian, nor archivist. But I am from New Jersey. And so I can tell you what I believe. I believe that Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby.”

He continued the allegory to say that Dylan and Brown abandoned the child on the New Jersey Turnpike, leaving the child to be raised by a “pack of feral vaudevillians. That child is Bruce Springsteen”.

The Boss was reported to break into a smile, while First Lady Michelle Obama erupted into laughter. American music patriotism reigned with John Mellencamp singing Born In The USA, Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland Glory Days, Sting singing The Rising, and Melissa Etheridge performing Born To Run to a standing ovation.