No it isn't a political issue but holding off on surgery would in itself be distressing. I have been on a delivery where the infant had ambiguous genitalia and it was distressing to the parents to say the least. I can only imagine how confusing it would be to tell a 3 year old "we don't know what you are".
That's why this is such a difficult conundrum, unlike any other physical deformity. Gender is so central to the human experience. As you said, you can't really hold off on surgery and tell a 3-year-old "we don't know what you are yet". But it's also risky to assign a gender that later turns out to be "wrong". Very difficult situation.
I can only quote the people so affected and relate their message to the eager surgeons, basically it was "you had no right to maim me". It's hard to argue with it.