The Way it Won't Be

What made him so unusual
Was that he seemed like no such thing.
While rivals grew theatrical,
He’d say it straight, not make it sing,
Without their flippant winks and nods
As though all-knowing demigods.

Despite himself, a know-it-all,
He worked like hell to figure out
What lurked behind deception’s wall.
It’s diligence that gave him clout,
And yielded modern anchors who
Can read and phone the sources, too.

Avuncular but hardly Dutch
Except when telling LBJ,
As journalistic pro nonesuch,
In Vietnam we'd had our day,
Our Walter Cronkite loved his job,
His life, his land, and now let’s sob.