I think I have heard wells stated that D&D is both a role-playing game and a battle-tactics game.
I'm also finding that people play D&D differently and everyone has a slightly different understanding or interpretation of the rules. A lot of rules get ignored, no matter how clearly stated.
I think D&D strikes a nice balance between role-playing and war-tactics. It is annoying when it seems as though your players just want to bash stuff rather than role-play. Yet there are down sides to too much role-playing, particularly when people start to take it too seriously, or there are other issues in the group. At that point it is nice just being able to fall back on some standardized rules, even if the rules don't always make sense.
Plus, D&D has scores more players than any other RPG, so it's easier to get into D&D groups, even if it isn't one's first choice.
Oh, no matter what anyone says, I think think that White Wolf enforces stereotypes, even if they don't intend too. So their declarations that they don't mean for their books to enforce stereotypes is just frivilous tripe.