Jacob is exempt by Rinafiron

So we’ve heard all about course correction, that you can change your destiny in the short run but the universe will set things aright in the long run. Well, Jacob appears to be exempt from that. He’s actively altering destiny when he touches the Losties, he knows it, and he doesn’t seem concerned in the least. In fact, he seems quite confident and in his element when he intervenes.

Let’s do the rundown of how Jacob changed folks' destinies:

Jack/Sun/Jin – doesn’t do much in the moment but will pay off at some point
Kate – gets her out of trouble, perhaps affecting how her personality develops
Sawyer – sets his life in motion
Sayid – saves his life
Locke – brings him back to life
Hurley – convinces him to go back to the island and gives him the guitar case, which will also prove to be important

Jacob being exempt from course correction could mean a couple things:

1. Jacob is the weaver of destinies and can choose to do anything he pleases. Other people have to worry about course correction. He sets the course.
2. Jacob is like Desmond, only more so.

I’m sure there are other implications but those are the only two that make sense to me. And I'm not really feeling #2.

If Jacob is not exempt from course correction he sure does get a long lead time before suffering the consequences. He’s been mucking about in the Losties’ lives for at least 30 years, not to mention Ilana and crew, the Others, Richard, the Black Rock, the Egyptians, or MIB himself. He’s got to be exempt, and I don’t think he’s a level 10 Desmond, which means he’s got to be the prime mover.

What I don’t quite get are the 1) how and 2) why. For that I’ll go with 1) he inherited or was appointed to the position a la Radzinsky-Kelvin-Desmond-Locke, Ellie-Widmore-Ben-Locke, Jack-Sawyer; and 2) to settle a bet on free will vs. fate.