You make good points, but I think where having Vitalik makes a difference is evident in the large number of contentious hard forks Bitcoin has had/will have thi

You make good points, but I think where having Vitalik makes a difference is evident in the large number of contentious hard forks Bitcoin has had/will have this year. Obviously the Ethereum model isn't perfect, or else we wouldn't have Classic, but I think it helps to have one person who says "follow me, this is the way we are going".