I haven't read the novel (is there even an English translation lol), but I'm pretty sure that's part of the point

Char was on the cusp of being right in CCA. He's just a dumb old 30-something who never wanted to be in a leadership position (mood). In ZZ we get shown that the Federation's government doesn't have the common person's interests in mind, and that the earth is already mostly depopulated. The status quo needs to be upset for any chance of liberation, but Char's idea of "lol throw a big rock at it" isn't quite the best solution.

Anyways, Hathaway gets a whole lot of trauma during those events, but he also figures out that Char was mostly right, but a giant rock isn't the answer (hehehehe cheeky time).

Clearly none of it matters in the long run though (wild gesticulations towards F91, Victory, etc).