Bump says the arrival of CCDEs is good for CCIEs because the CCIEs can now focus on all that dirt-under-the-fingernails stuff that they’d rather be doing. That’s not ringing true for me."
Cisco is disillusioned if they think that most veteran CCIEs would prefer to work on the "dirt-under-the-fingernails stuff", basically what will happen is that CCIEs in large organizations will as you mentioned end up working under a CCDE. I hate to say it, but I'm now working on getting the CCDE for this very reason. For those individuals with proven experience this may be that differentiator that will set them apart from the rest. My only real disappointment is that for the Master Architecture Cert. (Or whatever the name may be) you are required to first be a CCDE which indicates to me that the CCDE and CCIE won't be viewed as parallel tracks. IMO when the dust settles the CCDE will be the preferred certification in large enterprises as well as in the large consulting firms, most VARs will probably stick with the CCIE types whom end up working on the design and implementation.

As a veteran CCIE you have to really look at where you are in your career to determine wether or not the CCDE is right for you.