For example is it not up to the captain when it is safe and proper to push and call for engine start and taxi. I am of the school that the command pilot sets the tone and pace of action in the pit, or is it my unfamilality with this procedure reading and to much into it
I agree with your sentiments absolutely. The current situation is that the flight deck is now run by a committee. The margins between captain and first officer actions, decisions and "duties" have become blurred to the point of being indistinctive.
Others will dsagree of course and I have no problem with that. The command authority of the captain is set in legal stone but Boeing and Airbus operational checklist and decision making policy forces the captain to become merely a target for the legal eagles in event of an unfortunate event and someone gets hurt.
The long held view that challenge and response checklists involves two people has been tossed overboard - because now the first officer challenges himself and answers his own challenge while the captain plays the part of an interested spectator - but wears the blame ultimately.
No further correspondence will be entered into on this subject by this contributor!!