Meryl Streep in Doubt

I am not sure i possess the ability to comment on Meryl Streep's performance. She is class- personified. She is the Tendulkar of Hollywood.
Whether she plays a shrewd politician in the Manchurian candidate or a honest Journalist, collaborating with and if needed exposing such politicos in Lions for Lambs, whether she plays a manipulative and autocratic business woman in Devil wears Prada or a strict Catholic nun in Doubt, you love her, you like her, you adore her acting skills in all of these various roles.
She carries herself so comfortably in her roles, you never feel her to be separate from the role.
In Doubt, she delivers yet another brilliant performance to us.
This may make us wonder why was she not conferred with that academy award?? Not that such awards matter, when you are someone with a caliber and class of Meryl Streep, but, it surely feels good to get recognition for the hard work.
Here's my take on where she would have lost points.
firstly, sometimes being a veteran comes with its own price. In a typical one-day, even if Sachin Tendulkar scores 80 runs, nobody cares about it now. When he scores a century, people only say, thats what he is expected to do. When he does not score, he is an old horse. When you are a player of that class, and when you are a player in the field for that long, sometimes you being seasoned is taken for granted; you giving best performances is taken for granted and that can deprive you of the rightful extent of appreciation for your work.
Watching Doubt, you take a brilliant performance from Meryl streep as granted and that sentiment in minds of academy members may have taken a toll on her award chances.
Through out the film you see Meryl standing up for righteousness, you want her to win; but at the same time, being a religious person [and i am not christian], you also want that the script somewhere reveals that her doubts about the pastor are just doubts; you ridicule the stupid gestures of sister James, and at the same time appreciate her tenderness and innocence; and towards the end, Meryl takes you down the lane of tears along with her as she weeps 'I have Doubts..I have such doubts'. You never separate from the movie or from the struggle and agony in to which Meryl is.
And guess what, even while we are reaching towards our handkerchiefs to wipe off those tears, the credits begin. First of the credits - 'This film is dedicated to sister James'.
Taadaa!!
Immediately, your thought process begins ..
So, there was one real sister James, who was kind and inspiring enough that somebody dedicated a whole film to her; so, the compassionate but wavering pastor and then righteous but stubborn nun were just instruments used to discover the innocence, compassion and love of sister James? Instruments to showcase the kind of people she dealt with in her life, and yet managed to maintain her integrity??
Getting my point? after seeing a brilliant performance by Meryl for around 2 hours, when you come out of the theater, you are actually indulged in to thinking about sister James. Meryl's performance takes a back seat. So, if it was the same psychological maneuver, which the academy members also went through after watching this movie, we know where Meryl lost her points!! Of course, its just a theory and any inputs and arguments from readers are welcome.