...I also think that part of RJ's motivation in making their rise to power so "easy" has to do with their ages and lack of experience.

To take a simple example... Egwene in the Tower under Siuan. The first and most logical question is, why would she even begin to work against Siuan? As you said, it is easy for an objective reader to point out the flaws in Siuan's reign and realize that her style of doing things would not suffice in this kind of changing world.

But where would an eighteen year old village girl with no political experience even begin to find the requisite foresight and wisdom needed to make such a discovery? Even if she did, imagine how hard it would be for her to find any allies at all. Would even Nynaeve and Elayne have supported her if she decided one day to depose Siuan? Would it have seemed realistic if she succeeded?

There are two alternatives. RJ could have made Siuan a viscous dictator, unscrupulous and unpopular. That would at least explain the motivation for someone like Egwene to decide to overthrow her, and allow for a following. But if such were the case, one would have to wonder why exactly the other "good" Aes Sedai never bothered to try depose her before.

Or, RJ could have had someone like Cadsuane, older, wiser and with a perspective that is much broader because of her long life lived in the world, come in to depose Siuan. From a person of such maturity, actions like deposing a relatively harmless person like Siuan would seem a lot more believable.

The issue then would have been one of sympathy. Even with an undeniably "just" cause like deposing Elaida, Egwene gets a lot of grief. You yourself have on countless occasions classified her motives as power hunger and self aggrandizement. It would have been even tougher to make a character like Cadsuane sympathetic while she went about systematically destroying the status quo for the "greater good". How much easier to accuse such a person of megalomania!

I think RJ grappled with this very issue. The Dragon Reborn was to be a retired soldier. Maybe the new Amyrlin was to be a retired Sister? In both cases, the characters would have been mature, may have taken action against people who, while not evil, were too wedded to the status quo. But without seeing how adherence to the status quo was dangerous and harmful, would the vast majority of the readers appreciated and cheered for the actions of the mature versions of Rand and Egwene? I don't think so...

But there's one thing... what if, instead of just one book, Rand and Egwene had half the series left to carry out their roles as absolute leaders whom everyone accepted? Because we can be certain that while these characters (and Elayne, Perrin, Tuon, etc. as well) got to their current status of power relatively easily, from now on, what they seek to do will have repercussions.

When Elayne calls for the creation of a large army for TG, when Egwene makes it compulsory for all sisters to laren how to fight, when Rand decides to tackle the Seanchan again... in all these instances, the characters will not be able to fall back on any "excuse" to justify any morally questionable action they take. Elayne and Egwene will no longer be in the midst of civil wars. Rand will no longer be in severe stress induced by his situation. What they do now will be on their own heads, their first actions as full and complete leaders of their spheres.

Like you, I hope they face tough choices that they cannot sidestep.