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@M_V
There's a number of problems with that setup and I think you need to address all (or at least most) of them before you'll see much improvement.
I've never seen a downtube shifter that had outer cable run right up to it. In my experience the only outer cable on a bike with downtube shifters would be to go from the stop at the end of the chainstay to the rear mech. As such, solving the following problems might have little effect on how well your gears function.
You need ferules on the outer cable.
You appear to be using brake outer which is coiled rather than woven. Having a coiled outer might not have as much adverse effect on non-indexed gears as indexed but it certainly won't have a positive effect.
Your current setup means the outer cables are running from a shifter to which they cannot be anchored (as opposed to modern sti shifter which has deep sockets for cable ends and/or cabling running under bar tape)and which moves with steering to a stop on the frame. This will put a lot of stress on the cables and while stepped ferrules might help alleviate this, I doubt it'll be by much.
Considering your current set up can't bring the shifters much more than 6 inches closer and puts them in a position that still requires removing a hand from the bars to operate, personally, I'd put them back on the downtube.