I dont agree bob: I often want a handful of tools on a set of images. A big brush at a low opacity with a specific preset applied, a specific grad, a small brush with a different preset and auto masking turned on. Constantly changing presets when shifting from grad to brush, changing size and opacity is a big workflow slower. I guess it depends on the way you work and what style of photography you do. I don't worry about it so much when I'm working on landscape stuff because its a slower more considered workflow; but for my bread and butter I need to quick.
Also your grad idea would only work if all the develop panels were included in a grad preset. Theres no reason why my 2 presets one image couldn't include camera calibration and tone curve...
I also dont see this as bloat - I've worked in photoshop for years and the fact I can apply this stuff in the raw data is what keeps me in Lightroom.