I think it's fairly well understood at this point that a big reason for Python's slow performance is the desire to keep the interpreter simple so that people can more easily contribute to it. I'd add that this has evidently been a great strategy; Python is beloved and its ecosystem is among the best of all languages. However, approaches should evolve over time and Python is at the point of maturity where people probably don't need to be hacking on the interpreter, and the inefficiencies are causing problems; for instance, in server costs. Some groups have even forked Python to implement their own optimisations, which fractures the ecosystem. Hence, the time has come to focus on performance, for the health of the language's community, as well as the social benefits. All this is to say that in my opinion, Python continues to be a well-managed project and it is still growing in a positive direction