He easily does.  Same thing with Sunny King and proof of stake.  Since not even the developer himself really seems to understand how proof of stake works, and all the secondary or unintended consequences of each variable, few people have the authority to create a consensus to stop something if he wants it to happen.  Bitcoin is the same way.  It's easier to understand the general concepts of PoW, but there's still secondary or unintended consequences that make the "authority figures" divisible by a handful, or maybe even 1, especially when each change has to conform to future plans that aren't even known by all parties.