President Obama showed off his sense of humor during his remarks at the reception for Kennedy Center Honorees on Sunday evening in the East Room of the White House. He spoke briefly about the arts and acknowledged each of the five Kennedy Center Award nominees: singer Barbara Cook, singer and songwriter Neil Diamond, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins, and actress Meryl Streep by calling them “five giants from the world of the arts” who have “each been blessed with an extraordinary gift.” He said Cook’s greatest strength is “her ability to put her own feelings and experiences into her songs” and described Streep as “a cross between a den-mother and a class cutup.”
“One honoree is something of a regular here at the White House. I was telling him we need to give him a room. The Blue Room, the Red Room, and the Yo-Yo Ma room. We keep inviting him, and for some reason, he keeps on coming back,” POTUS said about Ma, who performed during the Obama’s inauguration and attended the state dinner with China in January. “But maybe the most amazing thing about Yo-Yo Ma is that everybody likes him. You’ve got to give me some tips. It’s remarkable,” he smiled while looking at Ma.
After the ceremony, the first couple and nominees headed to the Kennedy Center for the ceremony which according to the pool report was attended by hundreds of guests including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood, former Senior Advisor to the President David Axelrod, Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel and his wife, Amy Rule, 2006 Kennedy Center Honoree Smokey Robinson, Vicki Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith and Caroline Kennedy, actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Emily Blunt, Christine Baranski and Michele Lee. Also, there were actors Robert DeNiro, Matthew Broderick, Stanley Tucci, John Krasinski along with “ABC World News” anchor Diane Sawyer and CBS’s “The Early Show” co-anchor Julie Chen and her husband, CBS chief executive officer, Les Moonves.
