I'm not a programmer, so from my own standpoint I'd need to spend a fair amount of time learning how to code before I could begin to sit down and write the client.
But, I think what's remarkable about what Satoshi did is less about the elegance or quality of the code itself -- rather, it's the intuitive leap he made before he even sat down and starting translating his bold new idea into code. I think this article/blog post by Forbes contributor Timothy B. Lee back in mid April (just after the crash) really nails the way I feel about it:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2013/04/17/why-programmers-are-excited-about-bitcoin/Cryptographically secure digital cash isn’t a new idea; it’s a straightforward application of public key cryptography. But until Bitcoin, all digital cash schemes were hobbled by a reliance on an intermediary to handle the double spending problem.
Before 2009, truly decentralized digital cash was in the same intellectual category as public key cryptography was in before 1976. Programmers knew that it was a theoretical possibility, and that it would have revolutionary implications if it could be made to work. But no one had figured out how to build a practical system.
I think this explains a difference I’ve noticed in the way programmers and non-programmers react when they first learn about Bitcoin. Many people in both categories initially greet it with skepticism—certainly I did. But the nature of their skepticism is different. Non-programmers simply don’t see what the fuss is about. They see little difference between Bitcoin and conventional payment systems like PayPal. Programmers, on the other hand, immediately see that Bitcoin would have have revolutionary implications. It just takes time to convince them that Bitcoin lives up to the hype.