I was watching Keith Olbermann the other night and thinking of Walter Cronkite, retired for 28 years and just today, dead at 92.

With his walrus mustache, bushy eyebrows and deadpan, dead-on delivery, Cronkite might have been hard-pressed to become a broadcast star today. And yet, for much of the 1960s and ‘70s, he defined TV news, reporting it with the kind of straightforward assurance that led polls to proclaim him “the most trusted man in America.” Even the Yippie anti-war leader Abbie Hoffman—who would seem the least likely American to identify with this middle-class living room idol –praised “Uncle Walter.”

Uncle Walter. Think about that for a minute. Who would we address that way today?  Uncle Keith? Uncle Chris? Uncle Bill?  Or how about ratings-desperate, perpetually puzzled Aunt Katie? If they’re like family to you, can you spell dysfunctional? Read More »