Python vs. Lisp -- please explain

[63q2o4i02 at sneakemail.com]

Hi, I've been thinking about Python vs. Lisp.  I've been learning
Python the past few months and like it very much.  A few years ago I
had an AI class where we had to use Lisp, and I absolutely hated it,
having learned C++ a few years prior.  They didn't teach Lisp at all
and instead expected us to learn on our own.  I wasn't aware I had to
uproot my thought process to "get" it and wound up feeling like a
moron.

In learning Python I've read more about Lisp than when I was actually
trying to learn it, and it seems that the two languages have lots of
similarities:

http://www.norvig.com/python-lisp.html

I'm wondering if someone can explain to me please what it is about
Python that is so different from Lisp that it can't be compiled into
something as fast as compiled Lisp?  From this above website and
others, I've learned that compiled Lisp can be nearly as fast as C/C++,
so I don't understand why Python can't also eventually be as efficient?
 Is there some *specific* basic reason it's tough?  Or is it that this
type of problem in general is tough, and Lisp has 40+ years vs Python's
~15 years?


Thanks
Michael