I think a large part of what is causing the distaste for Picard is the fact that it is following the Deep Space Nine trajectory of having the characters tackle issues of a flawed but benevolent Federation. Gene Roddenberry really did object to the future not being utopian and TNG's early years were the worst for this. However, as early as The Wrath of Khan, many writers found much more interest in testing the Federation against the anvil it is hammered against and seeing if it could rise above its struggles.
Gene Roddenberry wasn't a fool. He knew you needed conflict in order to tell good stories but the reason it is Star TREK is because that the story was always LEAVING the Federation to visit alien worlds that weren't as evolved or happy. The Enterprise being a roving force for good.
Picard does have the issue that it manages to do both things simultaneously and satisfy neither. Picard shows the Federation being hammered against the Anvil of its next 9/11 (we've had the Xindi Superweapon and the Attack on Earth/Dominion War would qualify too if it didn't predate 9/11). I'd add INTO DARKNESS too but sadly that movie was written by a "truther" and thus I've lost all regard I've had for that film.
The thing is the Federation isn't where the majority of awful Picard encounters is. Picard takes place primarily in the former Neutral Zone that has been reimagined as a kind of lawless Space Western setting with the Fenris Rangers as the Texas Marshalls as well as Romulan Warrior Nuns dealing justice versus a "civilized" place like the Federation. I honestly think some fans seems to have missed that Freecloud is there and assumed the organ-harvesting psychopaths were living in the UFOP.
There's also a certain level of "my toys are not broken!" Which is the fact that Picard being a lonely old man disrespected by Starfleet is always going to be a bitter pill to swallow. No one liked when in YOUNG INDIANA JONES, they had opening segments where 100+ year old Indy is wandering around museums with no one giving him the time of day. Say what you will about Kirk in Generations but at least he was treated as a hero. Picard has saved the universe multiple times and he's basically treated as a Jimmy Carter with someone shoving a mike in his face to get a soundbyte about Iran.
Picard and Seven are in pretty rough places and so is Troi and Riker. Picard is unmarried, no kids, Troi and Riker lost their child to a stupid medical law (stem cells?), and Seven lost her surrogate son before becoming Boba Fett. The novels have a somewhat comforting quality in that they imagined everything ending up awesome for everyone. Massive Borg invasion aside.
