The official portrait of 2007 Kennedy Center Honorees:

(seated, front) Steve Martin, Martin Scorsese

(standing, rear) Paul Fleisher, Diana Ross, Brian Wilson, Condoleezza Rice

What’s wrong with this picture?  And who is conspicuously missing?

For 29 years, the Kennedy Center Honor has been bestowed upon those of great achievement in the Arts.  It is one of the highest honors the United States gives, and, therefore, it has always been presented to the recipients by the President.

For its 30th year, however, according to the official press release, “The Kennedy Center Honors will be bestowed the night before the gala on Saturday, December 1, at a State Department dinner, hosted by the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.”

WHAT?  Since when did a domestic celebration of Arts and Culture become a matter of Foreign Affairs, to be presided over by the Secretary of State?  Evidently, since we have a president to whom Culture is something utterly foreign.

Traditionally, the honorees spend a weekend in Washington, D.C., and on Saturday night they would be invited to a White House dinner with the President and First Lady.  Politics did not enter into it.  Ever.

Surely, in 2005, when Robert Redford and Tina Turner were honorees – and outspoken opponents of Bush – it could’ve been thorny, but, all parties showed up, and politics were kept out of it.  Similarly, in 1998, Shirley Temple Black, actress and longtime Republican Party activist broke bread with the Clintons.  In what must be the most bizarre of all such moments, in 1985, Arthur Miller showed up and dined with the Reagans.  Surreal, surely.

If it is the role of the artist in society to reflect the times and foster progress, perhaps this year the message is coming the other way:  this president has no interest in the arts or culture, ergo, reflection or progress.

The press release explains that “The President and Mrs. Bush will receive the Honorees and members of the Artists Committee, who nominate them, along with the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees at the White House prior to the gala performance.  The 2007 Kennedy Center Honors Gala concludes with a supper dance in the Grand Foyer.”  So he’ll be there for the kitschy made-for-CBS variety show where lesser celebrities “interpret” the work of the ones being honored, and for the photo-op afterward.