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President Obama: Tonight we honor five giants from the world
of the arts, not just for a single role or a certain
performance but for a lifetime of greatness.
By expressing themselves, they help us learn something
about ourselves.
Meryl Streep: I'm just really honored to be here.
I can't even believe it, and my children can't
believe it at all.
(laughter)
I think they are in the bathroom stealing the towels as we speak.
I just think it's absolutely wonderful that we honor artists
in this country and acknowledge that they make an enormous
difference in the lives of many people,
especially speaking from my colleagues.
They give us enormous joy.
They're great ambassadors for what's great about America and
American spirit.
Sonny Rollins: The institution of jazz has made a tremendous contribution
to American culture and to world culture,
and the many people involved in that,
the many people who never got an award of this type, my idols,
those people deserve to get this award, and in getting it,
I am getting it for them.
Neil Diamond: I was shocked and amazed.
I thought they got the wrong Neil Diamond on the address,
but I eventually came to accept that the honor was to be given
to me, and I am thrilled about it.
It's a great capper.
I don't know how I'll follow it, but I'm going to have to work
extra hard to do that.
President Obama: Neil Diamond's songwriting career began like so many others.
He was trying to impress a girl.
The difference was that it worked and he went on
to marry the girl.
Barbara Cook has been said to have the most magnificent voice
in popular music.
Barbara's greatest strength has always been her ability to put
her own feelings and experiences into her songs.
She says, "If I sing about emotion and you say, yes,
I felt that too, then it brings us together even if it's just
for a little while."
When Yo-Yo Ma took his first cello lesson,
there wasn't a chair short enough for him,
so he sat on three phone books instead.
By the age of four, he was learning the Bach Sweets.
At age seven, he was performing for President
Kennedy in this room.
Today he has 16 Grammies and is considered one of the greatest
classical musicians alive.
Barbara Cook, Neil Diamond, Sonny Rollins, Meryl Streep,
Yo-Yo Ma, each of them have made these extraordinary
contributions, and it's worthwhile then for us to commit
ourselves to making this a place where the arts can continue to
thrive, because right now somewhere in America there is
a future Kennedy Center honoree practicing on some phone books,
or writing songs to impress a girl,
or wondering if she can cut it on the big stage.
Let's make sure our young people can dream big dreams and follow
them as far as they can go.