The Obama's Attend the Kennedy Center Honors...

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama (in a pleated, lilac Peter Soronen gown) arrive for the national anthem for the Kennedy Center Honorees at the Kennedy Center in Washington, December 6, 2009. The show will air nationwide on December 29th on CBS.

Via HuffPo:
A surprise list of star performers will honor Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro and comic genius Mel Brooks Sunday during a show attended by President Barack Obama and other power players from Washington and Hollywood.

Also receiving the honors -- which recognize individuals who have defined American culture through the arts as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy -- are jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck and opera singer Grace Bumbry.

About 300 guests, including Jack Black, Edward Norton, Matthew Broderick, Ben Stiller, Martin Scorsese, Sting, Philip Seymour Hoffman were at a reception in the East Room of the White House.

"These performers are indeed the best," Obama said at the gathering. "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."

Springsteen, 60, described the award he received on Saturday night at a State Department dinner as different than other accolades.

"We worked really hard for our music to be part of American life and our fans' lives," he said. "So it's an acknowledgment that you've kind of threaded your way into the culture in a certain way. It's satisfying."

Obama said, "Only a handful of people have tapped the full power of music to tell the American story. ... One of those people is Bruce Springsteen. ... I'm the president, but he's the boss."
[photo via Reuters]