Istari and their staves

[Galadriel55]

I didn't mean to say that Gandalf is such a stewart as Denethor. But as you said, his job is to care for all of ME, or as much as he can. No matter how you interpret his stewartship, though, you can say that he's responsible for the fate of ME. The job of a ruler, any ruler, is to govern only his country, and that is basically all he's responsible for. Gandalf's responsibility is by far greater and more important. Thus, it should also give him more leagal authority. He does indeed care for ME and doesn't rule it. However, in order to be able to care for it, he requires some power/authority over others. He doesn't abuse it, like Saruman did, and avoids using and displaying it, like Denethor, but he still posesses it.