Just my semi-educated opinion - McArthur was a very good Emperor of Japan since it was a perfect compliment to his ego, and he made a good strategic call at Inchon. He wasn't completely lacking in generalship, his lack of preparedness in the Philippines notwithstanding, he just had such a huge ego he couldn't work well with anybody else.
As to his good press, just guessing that his political connections extended to members of the press.