Walter Cronkite Spouts Off: We Should Probably Listen

When I say Walter Cronkite is spouting off, you have to realize that spouting off for him is really just speaking out forcefully in a dignified manner, of course. We pay attention to Walter Cronkite almost as if he were Deputy God. At least in my generation, Cronkite, the 88-year-old legendary TV anchor, was the most trusted man in America, perhaps even in the world. We always listened to the 6 o'clock CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. When he spoke, you felt you could believe what he said without question.

This week Cronkite spoke at a charity appearance on Fisher Island in south Florida. He blasted the Bush administration, saying that it has spent itself into ruin while embroiling the country in a war that will eventually make public revulsion to the war in Vietnam look "like peanuts."

Cronkite has accused Republican political operative (I hate that word) Karl Rove of orchestrating the release of a new OBL tape last month to help elect Bush. Now if Walter Cronkite goes on record claiming such a thing, we have to assume that he has a very good reason for doing so. As THE consummate journalist of integrity, he would not just say such a thing for the fun of it.

Thursday Cronkite went further in lambasting the president, accusing his administration of destroying the nation's infrastructure and wrecking its education system, thus jeopardizing democracy itself. Are these just words on a page or in a speech? This is Walter Cronkite. He says that, in order to defend itself, a democracy must have an excellent education system. He says ours is in a shambles right now.

However, the biggest problem, the most immediate, is Iraq, warned Mr. Cronkite.

He says the war is tearing us apart. But the administration's deficit spending is a close second, pointing out that our great-grandchildren and possibly beyond that will be paying for our debt. Let's see-- my grandchildren are now age 12-newborn. My great-grandchildren will presumably be born starting in 2016 or thereabouts. My great-grandchildren will be born sometime after 2040. My great-great-grandchildren will arrive somewhere around 2065. I can see what Cronkite is saying.

In the scheme of things, and considering the extreme damage that Bush has done and now seems hellbent to continue with renewed vigor, hoping to achieve recovery from such complete decimation of our country in 50 years seems overly optimistic.

Perhaps many of our children's generation would scoff at an old white-haired man, warning us of a very dark future. But I'm old enough now to realize that many old people are wise. We should listen to them.