The funny thing is they fail to realize Raidens purpose was to see snake from a different point of view and make him look more impressive than before. It was succesful and that was Hideos mistake in my opinion.
Yes, that was the whole idea of having Raiden as the character. If you played as Snake, he is the ultimate warrior and can expect anything, and know everything. What Kojima meant was that if you played as Snake, you would be overwhelmed by how cool he is and more be 'following' Snake than controlling him. You play as Raiden, the rookie with no experience, who looks up to Snake as an idol, and pushes to be as good as him. This makes Snake seem much 'cooler'.