toast: I don’t disagree with most of your last comment. As you said the Chofetz Chaim was a town rabbi, a leader of a Yeshiva, and most importantly a major Torah scholar and as such was clearly, unambiguously and indisputably a rabbi despite having no smicha. My only point being that smicha isn’t required to be a rabbi (or Rov) today.
Also note that any person with smicha can, at will, issue smicha to any other individual. Even a newly minted rabbi who just received his own smicha can immediately give smicha to others. Such is a core feature of smicha.
I did not say that I “don’t view smichah with any legitimacy.” If you got smicha from, say, the Chazon Ish it certainly has a lot of legitimacy and confers rabbinical status on said individual.
I will certainly say that some smichas today don’t have any legitimacy.