President Obama honors Robert De Niro, Bruce Springsteen and more at Kennedy Center Honors reception

The 2009 Kennedy Center Honors were preceeded by a White House reception for the honorees -- Robert De Niro, Bruce Springsteen, comedian/director Mel Brooks, jazz pianist/composer Dave Brubeck and opera singer Grace Bumbry. The Associated Press has a thorough account of the entire reception.


President Obama opened his Springsteen tribute with, "I'm the president, but he's The Boss." Obama was followed by a speech from Jon Stewart, John Mellencamp performing "Born in the U.S.A.," Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland singing "Glory Days," Melissa Ethridge rocking out on "Born To Run" and Sting closing with "The Rising."

Meryl Streep and Ben Stiller were on hand to honor actor Robert De Niro, while R&B singer Aretha Franklin honored opera singer Grace Bumbry and Dave Brubeck was spoken about by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

For our money, we think Mel Brooks got the best tribute -- Jack black performed "Men in Tights," Harry Connick Jr. sang "High Anxiety" and "Glee's" own Matthew Morrison performed "Springtime for Hitler," which we are DYING to see on video.

This was the first White House event attended by the Obamas since the infamous Salahi party-crashing a fortnight ago.

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Photo credit: The Associated Press