Codes, like all laws, ultimately depend upon the good will of the governed to be effective. When the rules begin to wander .... they start losing their impact.
I suspect that the 'uproar' has its' source in two things:
1) Many - certainly I - feel they were blind-sided by this requirement ... it seemed to pop up as a done deal out of nowhere. I don't like surprises; and,
2) Many - including myself - consider this an unwarranted extension of the code, well beyond the 'minimum safety' the code espouses.
We're not sheep, expected to quietly accept whatever is handed down to us. It is for the rules to satisfy us ... and this requirement is but one more reason to NOT accept the 08 NEC. Another term for "uproar" in this case might be 'citizen participation.'
