Exactly. Instead or choosing a release date a whole year before the release they should have waited and released the game when it was done.
Bethesda executives probably told the dev team that there is no choice, they want the game released before the christmas shopping season.
I have more respect for Bioware for pushing back the release date. I also have more respect for Origin for pushing the release date of Starwars: The Old Republic back to just a few days before Christmas. These companies know the importance of delivering a quality product.
Have you participated in the beta for Old Republic? I've been in since August and can tell you no amount of pushing the date back--so long as they keep it in 2011--will help the state of that game. Expect lots of bugs and half-finished/underdeveloped features on the 20th. Secondly, the date wasn't "pushed-back." The 20th has always been the announced day of launch (likely only because Best Buy leaked it). Also, that game is being developed specifically by BioWare.
As for Skyrim, I'm not certain the game was anymore rushed than any other Elder Scrolls game. Open world games will be buggy--some more than others--but Skyrim seems to have the right level of polish to be considered complete. Buggy, yes. Incomplete, no.