Dan already said he had plan to create EOS even before Steem was created. I'm not sure I remember this right though.
Also he never said Steem can't be fixed. He said he wasn't successful at solving it because we wasn't listened to.
Vast majority of steem users are great, but the steem that exists today is not what I created with its linear reward curve. I did try to fix it, but the community was very much against it and so was Steemit inc which no longer wished to follow my advice. I always try to fix past creations before moving on.