[Harumaki]

Yes, ofcourse you can become as good in kanji understanding as a native speaker, but lets not forget that beinig native means having all language basics from THAT specific language.

And since Japanese and all other languages on the world are different, mastering kanji will be a much harder effort then for a Japanese to learn our long words/wordcomposotions.

I agree with you that with enough exposure, kanji is nothing mystical, extraordinary difficult. But lets be honest, 70% of all learners of Japanese will not be able to get a same level understanding as a native speaker. But well, same counts vice versa.

And to get not any misunderstandings: I agree with all of you, with enough exposure, you will be able to do it. But the gap will not close completely, just become smaller :P
And I must admit, that I suck at kanji, I'm just not visual enough xD didactic learning my trump card, but oh well, with enough work everything is possible