Darrell West Lectures on “Tidal Wave Elections” and Government at the Newport Art Museum

Darrell West lectures at the Newport Art Museum

Darrell West, Vice President of Governance Studies and Director of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institute in Washington, DC, returned to Newport to kick off the Art Museum’s 2011 Winter Lecture Series. Dr. West presented his views on the post-election political landscape in both the state and the greater U.S. His Rhode Island background includes a stint at Brown University as the John Hazen White Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, as well as the Director of the Taubman Center of Public Policy. At the opening of his lecture, he joked about having taught David Cicilline, Rhode Island’s newly elected Congressman, as one of his first undergraduate students at Brown in 1982.

Museum Director Lisa Goddard was first to take the podium, welcoming guests, introducing the lecture series, and providing some of the speaker’s background. West then took center stage, and his professorial past was immediately evidenced by his confident, relaxed manner and quick, clear thinking style. He noted that 2010 experienced “a tidal wave election with huge ramifications” to ta standing room-only crowd estimated at 150 people, all eager to hear his insights on the recent machinations of Washington and his predictions for their greater impact on the country.

Museum Director Lisa Goddard welcomes attendees

West stressed the degree to which state elections and legislature feed into the national level – even in states as small as ours! – and pointed out the currently heavily polarized, non-centrist state of American political parties. With the increasing factions within factions, it will be as complicated for some Republican politicians to deal with their Tea Party base as it will be for President Obama to deal with Republicans in general, and West also noted how highly progressive Democrats have criticized Obama for shifting to a more moderate approach since he won the election, and that it will be important for him to work on maintaining their support in spite of his “moving towards the middle.”

West’s lecture also covered highly relevant topics including taxes, the economy, foreign policy, the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, unemployment, the national debt, and potential future changes in how voting is conducted in the U.S. But one of the major issues he singled out was communication, stating that a major flaw in Obama’s staff has been its lack of effective communication, even when it comes to positive new initiatives that are being implemented (such as a big new tax credit for all citizens in 2011), the consistent promotion of which seems like a ‘no-brainer’ when one is trying to increase public approval. Media research studies at Brookings noted this overall trend, and West hopes that this problem will be ameliorated with Obama's hiring of a new Press Secretary.

Darrell West expounds a topic

Audience questions brought the discussion into new realms. Some were humorous: “How smart do you find members of congress?” West cleverly fielded it with the response, “About average level, but with a large standard deviation,” then noted that the real issue is that “There’s no correlation between education, intelligence, and wisdom – speaking as someone with a Ph.D.,” he humbly added. Looking towards future elections, he dismayed some audience members by saying that he doesn’t see a “good outlook” for female candidates yet, in that there aren’t too many strong prospects at the moment, but he is hopeful that this will change soon. This question and another about immigration prompted West to joke that it was a “tough crowd” that day, but he answered the questions with ease and insight.

Immediately following the lecture was a light reception in the main entryway rooms of the building, allowing guests to mingle and pose their individual questions to Dr. West ; with so many hands up at the end of the lecture, he didn’t have time to answer them all. Newport Seen spotted Yusha Auchincloss, Angela Fischer, Bill Steele, Richard and Margot Grosvenor, Jerry Baum, and Paula and Michael Murray, among others.

The post-lecture reception

To learn more about the Newport Art Museum series, which features speakers on a variety of subjects including art, humor, music, architecture, history, politics, and more, visit www.NewportArtMuseum.com

by Amanda M. Grosvenor