If he had had enough time to establish himself as an independent character, then maybe I would have acknowledged him as such. But I reckon his time is growing short now. For absolutely most of the show he was just a person doing Oro's bidding and that's it. It's made even worse by Oro having had such a huge presence. It's hard to get rid of that. It doesn't help he even got some of Oro's looks after his transformation. The impression he's giving is: "I'm Kabuto, Orochimaru's successor, and will do what my master couldn't" rather than "I'm Kabuto and my deeds will shake the world".
It's totally analogous to a son of a great man. Everybody he meets will say: "Oh, you are XXX's son? We expect great things from you."
I thought it was always referred to as Madara's plan. But then again, Tobi was impersonating Madara, so maybe that's where the confusion comes from. However, Madara being dead already, he ought to be beyond caring. Or more likely Tobi is something that was created when Madara still lingered.