I think that's a very good point about V'Las, and I also agree that some other Starfleet brass shared Archer's view, and that's why Archer got the job despite Vulcan misgivings about him. While Vulcans were paternalistic, and did seem to be impeding Earth's progress into space, they weren't outright stopping it. Vulcans did have some sway over humanity, but I don't know if it's a colonial relationship. Albeit, it didn't have to technically be that to effect how Archer saw it and reacted to the Vulcans.
Those things being said, I didn't think Archer's initial attitude toward the Vulcans was justified, and the writing was meant to support his biases instead of fully exploring them and ultimately banishing them. Granted, T'Pol was on the ship as a counter, but in general she eventually came around more to the human point of view, which is typical for Trek, which often is a very homosapien's club when it comes to viewpoints . Also, I have to wonder if V'Las wasn't a smart creation of Manny Coto in the fourth season, to align ENT Vulcans more with TOS Vulcans and that the Vulcan Reformation idea or the corruption likely abetted by V'Las wasn't something long thought of beforehand by Berman and Braga. That it was just something Coto, etc. came up with and that B&B just envisioned the Vulcans as more impediments to Archer and Earth perhaps in an attempt to have some conflict, drama, and ultimately to show how awesome humanity is.
I think making Archer a boomer would've been a great idea. It would've given him more concrete experience he could use to counter T'Pol or the Vulcan way of doing/see things more than out of a sense of pique. I felt Mayweather's experience was often underutilized, which oddly enough was because T'Pol had that knowledge from Vulcan resources, so the show understood the value and easiness of using Vulcan knowledge while sometimes having Archer, etc. discount it at the same time. If I had my druthers, I don't even know if I would've included T'Pol on the ship. If the goal was the human adventure, then have an all human crew, which would've been another thing to help make it stand out from other Trek shows, and reinforce the idea that Earth was taking off the training wheels. Though if T'Pol had to be on the ship, have her be a first contact officer or the communications officer, where she could have a knowledge of various alien cultures or languages.
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, but as a TV character, dramatically it's not a very exciting backstory -- presenting the audience with a completely trained, eminently qualified expert on interstellar relations. Far better dramatically to see the captain and crew learning on the job and combining their various individual talents so that we, the audience, can witness the journey. It also meant that other characters, such as T'Pol with her cautious Vulcan experience and the delightful Phlox with his compassionate Denobulan enthusiasm for all things had significant roles to play too.
