I see your point, Life Boat, and for wannabees in their early 20's your points are totally valid.
But a lot of pilots around who are considering jobs like the one in LT nowadays are actually pushing 40, which means that there is a hell of a lot of difference if time to command is 5 or 15 years.
I think we all would agree that we would be looking for a command position before we turn 50 at least, no matter if a command position seems "magic" or not in itself.