IMHO Gavin has been pressurized by (private) business' interests such as Bitpay, Coinbase et al to push this (NYSE, CIA, and USgov too?!), but i am glad there is still some space to argue and not despotically rush into it.
I hear this thrown around a lot, but never seen any evidence for it. How has Bitpay/Coinbase pressured Gavin?
It's not unlikely that Gavin actually thinks this is a good idea and that's why he's working on it.
Im not saying this is what is happening, nor would i find any evidence about what is going on in one's head.
Just extrapolating that they may be a lot of forces driving or attempting to highjack bitcoin's development.
Capitalistic and private interest are likely playing their card on top of that, considering all the VC cash that has been thrown at bitcoin over the last couple years.
Besides Bitpay, Coinbase and other exchanges are indeed favoring the forking. they dont hide it.
Anyhow, it also seems Gavin is on the edge here with this whole thing, putting his legitimacy and authority as Bitcoin lead dev at risk if people in the end refuses to cope with the forked software.
Interesting times..