Who says I'm settling for it? It for sure could be faster, I'd love HSR but that's not going to happen tomorrow, that's going to be a generational task. In the meantime, yes I'll advocate for what transit we do have, because the more people who ride will convince more to take it. There's a reason that 10 years ago we had 2 daily roundtrips to Portland and now we have 6, with new traincars coming end of month. It's because people started riding so they invested in it. You don't get investment by ignoring it.

Being able to read, drink, or sleep during the ride doesn’t counteract the fact that it’s slow as that’s still a couple hours more that you’ll be spending on the transportation portion of the trip rather than at your desired destination.

That is an opinion. My opinion is that I would much rather have 3 hours to read or sleep than to have 2.5 hours in a stressful drive. Driving is not fun, I find it stressful and annoying. My opinion is that my time is better spent relaxing on a train reading or playing video games, I get nothing out of a drive.

The benefit of reduced stress that you listed could be accomplished by having someone else drive you there too

That is quite literally what the train is, I'm having someone else drive me there.