This might seem counter-factual. The Senate voted overwhelmingly to strip a paltry $50 million for the Arts out of the stimulus, certainly this bodes poorly for a high ranking arts advisor, right?
it's actually an even more powerful argument for such a figure. In a climate where it's very difficult to get funding for the NEA, you want to find ways to fund the arts through other agencies. You want, therefore, someone with the ear of the President helping to coordinate ways in which those other agencies could be funding the arts. We don't have that right now and as a result, that $50 million not getting added to the budget hurts the arts in America even more than it has to.
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