Politicians Who Rock (The Vote)

Bill Clinton Gets Lifetime Achievement Award From Youth Voter Group

(CBS)  By Dana Edelstein of the CBS News Political Unit

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Who knew that Bill Clinton's infamous jam session on the Arsenio Hall show during the 1992 presidential campaign would make him the first political pop icon?

The former president pioneered the way for pop culture to become a standard method of drawing American youth's attention to political issues. Wednesday night, he became the first recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from Rock the Vote, an organization hyping voter registration among young people.

This year's Rock the Vote awards dinner took place at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., where guests and honorees included Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill.; musical group the Black Eyed Peas; and Mr. Clinton, who made an appearance via a prerecorded video.

Health care and Social Security were among the issues addressed by the night's speakers. A constant theme, surprisingly, was that organizations like the AARP and politicians more than twice the age of the event's target audience had a lot in common with Rock the Vote.

Tom Nelson, chief operating officer of the AARP, asserted that Social Security funds are not just for the group's current members but for its future ones, too.

Jehmu Greene, president of Rock the Vote, attempted to show that young people have their own place in politics. She said her organization was the younger generation's equivalent of the AARP for retired people, the NRA for gun owners and the Chamber of Congress for businesspeople.

McCain, who received the Rock the Nation Award, also tried to seem a little more hip. He joked about becoming the fifth member of the Black Eyed Peas, calling himself "Funk Master McCain." The senator also teased that he would not disclose what kind of "shorts" he was wearing, a reference to Mr. Clinton's response to a boxers-or-briefs query at a 1994 Rock the Vote event.

But McCain became more serious, touting the need for bipartisan support for Social Security reform. He warned his young audience that there could be nothing left for them when they retire.