I agree with your whole post, Eagle, bravo!

As for everyone saying that Paladin is fine as is... That's kind of true, but someone in another thread said it best. Paladin -can- tank, however you have to examine how much effort it is to tank (you need gear, cause most pieces of AF stink.) Then compare it to what Warrior has to do in order to tank. They can essentially full-time AF and tank just fine (Not saying it's optimal, but the gear compliments their tanking style quite nicely as opposed to Paladin which does enhance them, but not in a way that is optimal to tanking in this game.

Also, compare how much skill/finesse it takes to tank on Paladin versus Warrior. Paladin, due to their low HP, if you mess up even slightly, you're done. Maybe not always, but generally speaking you have -no- room to screw up on Paladin. Warrior, you have some maneuvering space. You got hit by that Sand Pillar while tanking Chimera? No problem. You got hit by the Sand Pillar and one of Chimera's breaths? No problem.(Probably less realistic, but I'm sure you get the point.)

The idea is that the skill gap, or the amount of breathing room you have on these two jobs for the average player is too large. You should be able to pick up Paladin and tank without worries of losing hate or dying just as easily as you can on warrior.