The delay isn't as slow as Ganondorf's? What? Have you played Ganonfuck? Ganon isn't as fast as he used to be, but Dedede is way slower than Ganon by far.
Seriously. His neutral air takes way too long. His forward smash is the slowest thing ever and he flinches mid-swing if hit even on the hammer. His down smash lacks range. His running attack makes you super-vulnerable. His down+B needs PERFECT timing to hit right (oh and any projectile user kills it). His Up+B is hard to aim, his standard B doesn't have Kirby's suction power (that I've found), and he's not easy to throw with. Oh, and it's easy to break his down-air smash, and in fact most of his air moves are too slow and need to be timed perfectly to work at all.
Find a strategy, seriously dude. Dedede is so far from cheap.
EDIT: I make Dedede sound horrible, don't I? I mean to be fair, his up smash is awesome, and so is his side+B, and his forward+B is great. His recovery, if aimed well, is bloody nice, and it is kind of hard to knock him off the stage. When he does throw, his throws set up nice combos I find. But to say he doesn't have any weakness means you need to step it up. We're not talking Melee Fox-level, here.