Don't doubt the strength of CDC. The only jobs that have ever blown my damage apart is Ukko's Fury and the best of empyrean Mnks. And even then CDC is a very good competitor.
I know exactly how strong CDC is. I don't doubt it as a ws.

Mnk is king at a little something called DoT. even if you did 100% identical average ws dmg, you're still not coming anywhere close to a mnk in damage.

Mnk also can't cure itself. Cure 4 is horrible, and its not even worth casting sometimes, but in a pinch Cure 4 can withstand a lot and help you hold on just a little bit longer.
How often do you get into this "pinch"? I'd assume you're referring to an oshi moment, which shouldn't be happening often. That being said, Mnk can chakra. Granted, its only every 5 mins, you did say "pinch". (on top of that, its instant rather than having a casting time).

I also want to mention that Paladin with merits has more chances to get hate back -quickly-, instead of over time, in the event its lost to say a BLM or another DD. MNK really just has boost and ws's, the prime reason why in salvage if you pulled hate off the mnk someone was gonna die so they could get the hate back.
It doesn't take long at all to cap CE. Granted, you lose hate, it should be back on you by your next melee round or once the person who took hate gets hit once or twice. Not to mention that salvage was mostly /nin. /war offers provoke for some quick VE, if ever needed.