Python 3 paved the path for the changes that you mentioned you wished for, some of which are being tackled now. It's not only about what Python 3 offered at the time, but also about what it made possible in the long run.
While that specific example is stupid the general question is very valid. I can't see what paved the way. The most invasive change was the unicode one and even that seems irrelevant to eg the GIL.
