Indulge me while I make a mountain out of a molehill.

I recently found out that the San Fransisco area laboratory involved in the steroid scandal of U.S. Olympic sprinter Kelli White has now been linked to Maurice Green and Marion Jones, who are arguably the two biggest stars in American track and field. At this point there isn't any conclusive evidence that the two used performance enhancing drugs, but some is likely to come out. White intends to cooperate with investigators and will probably implicate other athletes. She is, to use her lawyer's words, only "the tip of the iceberg".

If this scandal knocks out Green and Jones it will be a huge dissapointment to the USOC, and to me as well. They both were terrific athletes and a pleasure to watch.

But -- and this is the mountain out of the molehill -- I think that this scandal is really good for America. In my opinion, the single most dangerous idea held by Americans is that we are an unqualified force for good in the world. This is the idea that has led us into a failed war in Iraq and into various other bullheaded policies. It's been a rough year for America, but my hope is that this developing scandal, along with the pictures coming out of Abu Ghraib and the increasingly negative worldwide view of America, will make some of our more self-assured voters and policy makers stop to look in the mirror and realize that we're actually pretty bad ourselves.