Bingo. I think what gets lost in the shuffle is that the weather is the product of gradients resulting from the interaction of competing forces....people are focusing too much on one force when the ambient environment is just as integral a part of the equation.
Its not low pressure that creates the storm, but rather the imbalance of pressure...same thing with respect to forcing. It is the result of the SST gradient, not the absolute value within the ENSO region, as this is only part of the equation.