I'm no hacker yet, and I haven't gotten around to learning python yet but C/C++ are great languages for many reasons.
1) they have many libraries available
2) they are portable because they are ANSI standards
3) many of their libraries are portable
4) they can do almost anything because they let you access specific locations of memory
5) you can put assembly code in there
they've been around for a while and are going to stay around probably forever now, at least until transistors no longer function on this planet

I honestly don't know what python or any other programming language other than the various assemblers, would offer over C/C++, except for maybe speeding up development time, but these are probably sufficient for the real wizardly stuff.
If I am wrong on something, and I most likely am, please correct me so that I can amend my ways and become more of an asset to the internet/programming community.
diode