As noted earlier, today has been an odd day. I spent hours in a stuffy room, listening to the stories of my fellow citizens, as the attorneys in a criminal case that I can’t yet discuss tried to choose their ideal jury. As a result, I had no access to the internet or cable tv and missed seeing Obama’s speech live. I’ve since read it, and watched long sections of it here. But I haven’t yet seen what others have been saying on the subject. I might, later tonight, begin canvassing the interweb for reactions. For the moment, though, I thought I’d share a very few unfiltered thoughts of my own.

Again, my overall impression is that it was a great speech: particularly in its details if not always in its delivery. My guess is that other observers — like I said, I’ll check later — many of whom are smarter and better qualified for the task than I, have already taken this document apart piece by piece, singing its praises and cataloging its deficiencies. So, I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’ll say that I think the speech was remarkable as a piece of political rhetoric, powerful ideas woven from thoughtful words, a compelling answer to challenges about Obama’s fitness to lead the nation.

And in the end, that’s why I liked the speech so much. Obama didn’t duck any big questions. And beyond an unfortunate tendency to buy into myths about American exceptionalism — which, given his biography, likely resonate for him — he relied on a reasonably nuanced and unvarnished narrative of the nation’s history. More than that, though, I appreciate the fact that he chose to give a speech like this at all, to appear as an adult talking to adults. I may be guilty of romanticizing the past, but it seems to me that this sort of thing used to happen more often and to great effect.

The most obvious historical parallel is with John F. Kennedy’s decision to take to the airwaves to rebut charges that his religion disqualified him from the presidency. But Kennedy often delivered speeches in moments of crisis. Including, after he was elected, an inaugural address, at the height of the Cold War, that forced Americans to consider their responsibilities as citizens. In addition to his stirring War Message and his masterful First Inaugural, FDR also made a practice of chatting with the nation regularly, responding to his critics, reassuring a skittish polity, and sharing his ideas with the listening public. And Lincoln, three-quarters of a century before that, when faced with controversy, used to speak out instead of spinning: his First and Second Inaugurals, the Cooper Union and Gettysburg Addresses, among many others. These are just a few cases from the past when leaders met and made history with their words. Was Obama’s speech the equal of any of the aforementioned. Probably not.

It also wasn’t as good as many of the greatest speeches about the relationship between white and black people in this country: from Frederick Douglass’s thoughts on the Fourth of July to W.E.B. DuBois’s address at Harper’s Ferry to MLK’s dream to Malcolm X’s dire warning to LBJ’s stirring plea to Congress to do the right thing.

But making it onto a top-ten list of great speeches of one kind or another wasn’t Obama’s goal today. At least I don’t think it was. And this speech, it seemed to me, also wasn’t about style or soaring applause lines. The point for Obama today was to answer hard questions directly, to use language and ideas to persuade an audience to ponder a very difficult subject along with him. I believe that he did that. In addition, as I noted earlier tonight, I hope Obama will begin to usher in a new era in which such a practice — delivering a major speech on the issue of the day — becomes more common, in which our leaders rely on rhetoric and critical thinking when they speak to us. In short, I hope that Obama makes a habit of this kind of thing. If he does, perhaps we can all remember that well-chosen words and skillfully crafted ideas really do matter, that they can be, sometimes at least, the mainspring of our history.

[Update: Here’s exactly the sort of thoughtful reading of the content of the Obama speech that I don’t offer. Via DeJon at hungryhungryhippoes, Urbino’s group blog. Go for the Urbino; stay for the thoughtful discussions between friends who disagree.]