I didn't say the saga isn't about Anakin — of course it is — just that it doesn't matter if his story starts in the background and only kicks off in episode 2.

In addition, re Sidious being behind the Separatists: as it stands in the original version, he doesn't decide to double-cross them until the opening act of ROTS. For most of the Clone Wars, he's running both sides, not so as to turn the Republic into the Empire, but simply so that he would wind up ruling the galaxy no matter which side won. An edit can make of this what it will, but that's the way I see the original movies going. It's not that he planned every step exactly the way it ended up happening; he set it up so that once he became Chancellor and set up the Separatists, he could play one side against the other and come out on top whichever way it went.