Variations on the same theme

Hmm - wanted to throw in a random comment here. Mostly that while the Doctor is flawed, very flawed, in different ways in different incarnations (Ten: too romantic to see the big picture; Five: too compassionate to make the hard choices; Six: too angry; Nine: too guilty; Seven: too absorbed in the big picture to read the human consequences of what he was doing; etc), he also is the higher authority in so many ways. Before the Time Lords were gone, he had the wisdom he got from his people and the compassion he got from his human friends, and he used them both. Now he's the last Time Lord, the last of a race whose job it was to regulate the universe, and he's trying to do single-handedly a duty once taken care of by a whole planet full of people. Because he's the only one left with the wisdom, knowledge and power to do it.

Then again I'm coming from a very different perspective from either of you - I grew up with the Doctor, he's my childhood (and adulthood!) hero, and he's just always had that authority. The power to do good and make the right choices. With a little help from his friends, maybe.