I think one of the reasons Python is so successful is because it doesn't feel like someone’s PhD thesis language that includes the kitchen sink. Python is a practical language and was obviously designed for getting things done, not impressing your compsci prof with theoretical completeness or elegance.
Python is indeed powerful tool for "getting something done", as you said - it's a hacker's best friend too, and its great for "tinkering", which is what I do a lot of these days. It's a programmer's "vise-grips".
And there are lots and lots of open source Python code already available for doing almost anything that needs doing, from resizing photos, importing and working with data files, or even analyzing negative comments about Obama on twitter.