It may sound strange but every Saturday night for well over a decade I make sure that my ‘Sunday coffee mug’ is clean and ready for a hot beverage come the next morning. The mug is the official “Face The Nation” one that can be seen on the famed CBS show, placed in front of those being interviewed by Bob Schieffer. A great friend sent the mug to me while he visited New York, and the use of it every Sunday morning is now just a long running tradition. The mug is really symbolic for the deep respect I have for the man who anchors the Sunday broadcast.
Bob Schieffer is one of those rock solid reporters that I have turned to in times of national upheaval for an honest dose of news. During election season he demonstrates a long running love of the political process. He is gifted with political analysis that makes the younger faces around him seen so….well…average. He has a keen sense for blending his professional journalistic skills with a dose of humanity, and a touch of humor, to make his time on-air well worth my time. It has been that way for decades. He never has let me down.
But starting in January with a new President sitting in the Oval Office Bob Schieffer will not be on the air. He announced his retirement from the Sunday morning broadcast this week.
I felt the time Bob Schieffer was the anchor of the CBS Evening News was the best for that program since Walter Cronkite left the air. The fact that Schieffer knows how to write and craft his story to hit the facts, while drawing the audience in for more, is not easy. But after all the years that he has devoted to his profession it comes with ease. The fact it does look effortless on his part is just more proof of his television skills.
His grace on the air is also a well-known trait, one that has earned him respect from all quarters. He is a man with a job to do, but proves time and again that being a gentleman does not mean he can also not be successful, or get to the bottom of the latest headlines.
Come January I will still watch “Face The Nation”, but I wonder if the coffee in the old mug will taste the same.
Technorati Tags: BobSchieffer, CBS, WalterCronkite, FaceTheNation
