The funny thing is that as an "advanced" user I use the terminal all day long, but we assume the mouse cursor is easier for inexperienced users. But something about that old DOS prompt was not so bad: you just learn the commands, type them, and see the result. In a lot of ways it's a more straight-forward interaction than mousing around.
As a big CLI fan, I mostly agree, especially with respect to launching programs. But as far as I see there's two big obstacles: 1) Many names are somewhat-obscure in the interest of shortness. But are therefore a bit harder to remember. Compare "ls" with "list-files". 2) Many programs (especially interactive programs)--text editors, office programs, file managers, web browsers--are, I think, more intuitive with a mouse. Want to open that link or edit that textbox? Click it. Want to move that file? Drag it.