I agree with your description. He was indeed saying that is not currency as you not buy things ("coffee" was used as example), so underrating the MoE quality of bitcoin. I strongly believe he is not favourable of lightning or ecash on bitcoin, and hence why never talks about that.
Discussion
He can go piss against the wind, won't change how things evolve.
There's no room for centralization, even in day-to-day commerce. As long as one's bitcoin inflows are higher than its outflows, one can and will remain ahead.
A SoV narrative can't be taken seriously if there's no MoE quality that precedes it.