moral authority

Coming home from the co-op yesterday, I had Fresh Air with Terry Gross on. Her guest was Thomas Friedman. Now, I have been a fan of his inciteful and educating writing for years ever since I read From Beirut to Jerusalem back in the 80's. He lost me a bit with his support for the Iraq war - ok, let's be honest, he lost me a lot and really pissed me off :-) His support for the war, while for different reasons then the administration gave for going to war, struck me as just not computing. After all, they are the ones running the war for their reasons, not his. It was like trusting the inmates to run the institution competently. Anyways, yesterday on Fresh Air, I had to smile when I heard him say that this administration has enormous moral clarity but no moral authority in the world because of the Kyoto treaty, Abu Ghraib and the administration of the Iraq war. How true, how true.