“Few people familiar with the Smithsonian in Washington and its various underperforming, weirdly performing and, in some cases, barely existent art and culture museums were much surprised by” its recent troubles, Holland Cotter writes. “The institution has been deteriorating for a while, which has come to seem like part of its musty machinery. Besides, in the grand arena of national politics, why should anyone care about the sins and missteps and of a museum complex? One reason is selfish: As taxpayers we are footing the bill.”