When delivering an application to an end-user, hoops that the end-user has to jump through in order to run the application ought to be considered. The optimal route, in my opinion, is to deliver a totally self-contained application that doesn't require the user to install any runtime systems whatsoever.

In that light, yes, Java is suboptimal. However, installing the JRE is pretty straightforward for end-users. Many users even already have the JRE installed. Asking an end-user to install CLisp is a whole other kettle of fish.