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 growing evidence that the United States is facing a significant constitutional crisis as the Trump Administration continues to defy court orders. Al and Craig also discuss the fate of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the consequences of Donald Trump succeeding in firing him before the end of his term.
This video podcast is approximately 20 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.
Charles E. Yonkers says
Dear Talbot Spy: I appreciated and valued Al From’s and Craig Fuller’s comments especially this week. Their analysis and thoughtful comments are helpful in these destabilizing times. The original question about our being in a “Constitutional crisis” was excellent, but insufficient, in my view, given the current clear collision course we are on. One factor has been missing in the media conversation, even as forcefully put by David Brooks in The Atlantic May issue. That is, what about our Founding Fathers? What would they say? What would they have done? Coincidentally, I wrote a draft letter (not sent) to Law Firm Managers and University Presidents which presented for me something I feel is missing from our commentary. Here it is for whatever it adds:
“Dear Law Firm Managers and University Presidents,
Your careful accommodation with (surrender to) the current administration is shameful. Our Founding Fathers confronted their own brand of Tyranny in 1776. In July that year, they listed in a Declaration the abuses and usurpations of power inflicted by a King, and acted in resistance. In doing so, they assessed the risks of standing up to Authoritarianism. They acknowledged the potential losses to themselves (more fundamental than your concerns about losing key clients, federal grants, valuable personnel, access to power, financial resources). But instead of accommodating, they resisted. They asserted their Freedom and Independence. [As now some firms and universities have done] They did so at the grave risk of losses to themselves as rebels and traitors. But they stuck together, stood up to Power. They risked their All. Read their brave words in their Declaration of Independence to which they said:
“we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Signed below these words are John Hancock, one of the richest men in America, and other prominent men like Benjamin Franklin, John and Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Robert Morris.
You could and should stand up as well. Those who accommodate and equivocate dishonor themselves and our brave Founders. SHAME on you.”
I think at this time of our “constitutional crisis” we should realign ourselves with the bravery of our Founders.
Charles E. Yonkers