Maybe she was made part of the leaderhip of Echo Base because they wanted to see how she coped with leadership?
Maybe there could have been a few of the Alliance who thought she was too young and feisty to fill her father's shoes. Theoretically, she's only mid-twenties at most in ESB. It would be a nice thread to bring in to the middle trilogy of Leia proving herself worthy of taking on her father's part in the Rebellion.
Maybe that's why she was so reluctant to leave Echo Base. She felt that her leadership had failed with the Empire finding and destroying the base and was desperately trying to keep things together, even while the base is falling around her ears.
Maybe that's why, as Obi Jeewhyen says, she's such a moody cow in ESB - she's angry that the base fell on her watch, she's angry that Solo dragged her away, she's angry that they're stuck in a malfunctioning "bucket of bolts" being chased further and further away from the rest of the Rebellion by the whole Imperial fleet,...
she's angry because she feels she's not living up to her father's legacy.
Thoughts?