Binky,
Believe it or not, I understand the point you're trying to make. Whether or not his decisions were the most efficient for the situation at hand, we'll never know, and you are correct, the content of this recording doesn't mean he's the BEST controller, or that the controlling couldn't have have been done more efficiently.
What IS clear, though, is that he's handling a large volume of traffic and maintaining absolute control of the frequency for long periods of time. That is not something everyone can do. I'm sure professional ATC folks do it all day long, and might not find this recording to be anything special, but for aspiring controllers, or interested members of the aviation community, it's an amazing display of frequency management, and presence.
Apparently, his ability was not lost on some of the professional pilots that were on the air, too...with comments like "you're the man..." as they left the freq.
Slow speeds and vectors through the approach course are just more tools in the bag, and he used them. In a perfect world, you wouldn't need them...but with this many ppl involved, and lord knows what coming from surrounding sectors (we'll never know from an audio recording), he appeared to be getting the job done.