> which I think is why people like it

Do people actually care that much about languages? I mean, we're here writing English, which is a complete dumpster fire. Go is undeniable perfection compared to the horror that is English. Clearly you and I don't care that much about languages.

I expect people like Go because of its tooling (what also saves English), which was a million miles ahead of the pack when it first came out. Granted, everyone else took notice, so the gap has started to narrow.

> It feels like it fights any attempt at using it to do things optimally or quickly.

Serious question: Is that because you are trying to write code in another language with Go syntax? Go unquestionably requires a unique mental model that doesn't transfer from other languages; even those that appear similar on the surface. Because of that, I posit that it is a really hard language to learn. It is easy to get something working, but I mean truly learn it.

While every programming language requires its own mental model, Go seems to take it to another level (before reaching a completely different paradigm). I expect that is because its lack of features prevents you from papering over "misuse" like is possible in other, more featureful languages, so you feel it right away instead of gradually being able build the right mental model.