What's Wrong with Katie Couric?

Let's start with the name. Katie. There is absolutely no gravitas. Katherine. That would help. Not Katie.

Critics are ragging on Katie Couric's ratings, which are, I guess, the worst for network news. What. A. Surprise. She was never as good as Jane Pauley on the Today Show and I always found her annoying and cloying. So why someone at CBS thought she could possibly walk in the same shoes as Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, or even Dan Rather is totally beyond me. She is a total lightweight.

Every afternoon, as I leave work, I unfortunately manage to catch "A Page from Katie's Notebook." Not by choice, but the all-news CBS-affiliate is the one with traffic reports. We've got the Nazis taking over in Washington and perky little Katie shares her notebook.

I'm sure she's a very nice woman and I do have sympathy for her early widowhood, but a network news anchor she is not. I had a classmate in law school who was in broadcast news before she arrived and went back to it within a few years of graduating near the top of our class. She'd make a fine evening news anchor, but what she wants to do is replace Nina Totenberg covering the Supreme Court.

I think it is time for CBS to give Katie a golden parachute and find someone who brings trust and weight to the news. Maybe Morgan Freeman is looking for some steady work.