Every Thursday, the Spy hosts a conversation with Al From and Craig Fuller on the most topical political news of the moment.
This week, From and Fuller discuss the impact and ramifications of President Joe Biden’s poor debate performance with former President Donald Trump. Al and Craig also pay tribute to the late Spy columnist, Howard Freedlander.
This video podcast is approximately 22 minutes in length.
To listen to the audio podcast version, please use this link:
Background
While the Spy’s public affairs mission has always been hyper-local, it has never limited us from covering national, or even international issues, that impact the communities we serve. With that in mind, we were delighted that Al From and Craig Fuller, both highly respected Washington insiders, have agreed to a new Spy video project called “The Analysis of From and Fuller” over the next year.
The Spy and our region are very lucky to have such an accomplished duo volunteer for this experiment. While one is a devoted Democrat and the other a lifetime Republican, both had long careers that sought out the middle ground of the American political spectrum.
Al From, the genius behind the Democratic Leadership Council’s moderate agenda which would eventually lead to the election of Bill Clinton, has never compromised from this middle-of-the-road philosophy. This did not go unnoticed in a party that was moving quickly to the left in the 1980s. Including progressive Howard Dean saying that From’s DLC was the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.
From’s boss, Bill Clinton, had a different perspective. He said it would be hard to think of a single American citizen who, as a private citizen, has had a more positive impact on the progress of American life in the last 25 years than Al From.”
Al now lives in Annapolis and spends his semi-retirement as a board member of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (his alma mater) and authoring New Democrats and the Return to Power. He also is an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins’ Krieger School and recently agreed to serve on the Annapolis Spy’s Board of Visitors. He is the author of “New Democrats and the Return to Power.”
For Craig Fuller, his moderation in the Republican party was a rare phenomenon. With deep roots in California’s GOP culture of centralism, Fuller, starting with a long history with Ronald Reagan, leading to his appointment as Reagan’s cabinet secretary at the White House, and later as George Bush’s chief-of-staff and presidential campaign manager was known for his instincts to find the middle ground. Even more noted was his reputation of being a nice guy in Washington, a rare characteristic for a successful tenure in the White House.
Craig has called Easton his permanent home for the last eight years, where he now chairs the board of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and is a former board member of the Academy Art Museum and Benedictine. He also serves on the Spy’s Board of Visitors and writes an e-newsletter available by clicking on DECADE SEVEN.
With their rich experience and long history of friendship, now joined by their love of the Chesapeake Bay, they have agreed through the magic of Zoom, to talk inside politics and policy with the Spy every Thursday.
David A Turner says
Al, my good man, you’re in denial.
“Hold our noses and vote for Biden?” You may mean that now, but lets at least give it a bit of time and see what the Democratic leadership does between now and the convention. As you may be kind enough to recall, I find myself in pretty much the same situation as Craig. Not with Trump, but mostly conservative. I believed Biden was a moderate liberal in 2020 and voted for him and Harris. But now? Where you and Craig veer left in order to stay with Biden, many (more since Thursday night) are uncommitted.
Allow me to point out Biden has more flaws than just his aging. I’m going to get into the weeds — and perhaps primarily talk mostly to you for the next long paragraph. It’s about Biden dissembling.
Today you made me aware you were not only with Clinton’s team, but also served the Carter Administration. At a low level, I worked policy with Charles Duncan at Carter’s Energy Department. The big hats in our shop were often at loggerheads with Stuart Eizenstat’s left-wing cabal in Carter’s West Wing. The President had posed as a moderate liberal in the election and that ploy had worked, once. Not only had he won his election against Ford, he had garnered the support, for example, of oil and gas people across Texas by promising government enhancements for domestic refining and other such perks of a conservative nature. But it was play-acting. Harboring Eizenstat in his closet belied Carter’s pretense. You wouldn’t believe what energy-conservation nonsense Eizenstat directed Energy to research. Recommending maximum square footage allowances per adult in every household! Only someone as independent and moderate as Secretary Duncan (formerly Coca-Cola and Duncan Foods) could withstand Eizenstat. Doubtless you know more about Carter than I, but I do know subterfuge when I directly experience it. Carter let his far leftist team call the shots on much domestic policy. They basically had run of federal government.
Sadly, this is not dissimilar to President Biden’s posing on today’s political stage. His dissembling at the Mexican border — for three years — reveals a lot of truth about him. He is barely believable. His equally waffling stances with IDF and Hamas has helped rip America’s liberal community in half. Meanwhile, conservatives like me who stand with Israel are aghast at Biden’s hapless policy. He and Antony Blinken play a raw political game with Israel’s welfare. What actually is he? After 45 years on the national stage, it may finally be emerging. I think the American people are figuring him out right now — it’s not just his aging that discourages them. And as with Carter — they won’t re-elect someone so disingenuous. Possibly, Biden losing this nomination race may not be the disaster for democracy you predict.
Worse, as incompetent as is Kamala Harris, she will be president should all we uncommitteds rally to Biden and somehow manage to return him to the White House in November. Yikes.
Surely there is someone less progressive than the President Biden on the Democratic side who could rally a coalition of people from a range of different political philosophies… to beat Trump. Why not find out? It’s the least your Party can do, given they’ve led us astray by denying Americans an open primary and a genuine voice in selecting this year’s Democratic leader. It’s been an insider’s rigged game. Please consider this option before you keep marching with Biden.
A PITCH: And there are options. Liberals need to let their powerful mainstream media genuinely examine Robert Kennedy’s policies — instead of just dismissing and dissing the candidate. He may be a tonic for the Democratic nomination. He said today that he’d accept it. I’m curious. Would it have been tragic if he, too, had been on that debate stage last night?
So far, it’s just a blinding fear of reelecting Trump combined with closed minds and a deathgrip on a Biden candidacy that has guided liberals’ actions — even moderate liberals such as yourself. Has that kept us from honestly examining RFKII? To some extent, probably. Closed mindedness is never an acceptable path. I’m ashamed of the press performance regarding Kennedy. And that goes for FOX News, too. For example, his revealing to voters that he had a worm in his brain medically. We carp about candidates concealing their true health backgrounds during elections. Like Biden’s cognizance. But when someone like Kennedy gets brutally honest, we leap on him or her with devastating sarcasm.
In short, I believe July is not the time to insist on zombie-like adherence to “the Biden plan.” Not yet. You and Craig might want to reconsider. At least for now, and there’s time enough. Biden’s not the only way to beat Trump. Let’s pause and weigh the situation. It needn’t be Kennedy. But why not be open to something unplanned, yet promising?