I know its an opinion, I've never claimed otherwise. If I'm trying to speak of something as objective fact or for some reason feel I have agency to speak for more than just myself, then I'll say that, otherwise its my opinion and mine alone.
As for his role in Bendis's early stories, his role only serves to get the ball rolling into aging him up so Bendis could give him the Legion. His relationship with Jor-El had potential but went nowhere; there wasn't even a resolution to it when Jor-El was sent to die. It meant virtually nothing in the scheme of things. Same with Kathy. Yes early in the Tomasi Superman run that was built up, which then led to, again, nothing. By the second half of the run it was pretty much abandoned. It fed a little bit into TT I think but beyond that Kathy, Hamilton, and the interesting aliens that inhabited the town just became a non-factor. And this before they were removed from the title and had to wrap things up.