I liked Obama's speech. I didn't think it was great, but it was definitely good.  The reason it wasn't great, in my opinion, was because it was written for the campaign as a way to respond to and ameliorate the Wright problem.  That may be, in fact, why the pundits loved it so much:  Judged by the standard of campaign speech, it was really quite excellent, but by the standard of speeches about the nation, it could have been better.  In any case, here is what I liked about the speech:
1. I liked how he argues that racial differences are often used as a scapegoat for economic problems.  Lower income whites, he says, often feel that the jobs of others come at their expense and in fact their race hasn't privileged them at all.  That's a pretty good point, but it also should work to refocus the issue:  He's saying, "look, we have problems that affect everyone.  It's not about race.  It's about ensuring that the United States works the way it promises; that everyone can get a decent job; that economic problems are the enemy, not people of a different ethnic background."
2. However, I also liked how he says that race isn't something that we can ignore.  There are in fact some differences that can't be wished away.
By way of personal confession, I have spent most of my life in very white areas.  My hometown is something like 93% white and the second largest ethnic group is Asians.  Columbia, Missouri, where I went to college, is also largely white, and even on campus there were some clear divisions.  In the main student union, for example, there was a specific set of tables where black students congregated--de facto segregation because either a) white students weren't welcoming enough, or b) the black students felt a need to be around each other, or c) racism remains a problem.  This was at the University of Missouri, which has the highest proportion of black students in the Big 12.  And most recently, Austin is fairly diverse but also segregated.  There are very few African Americans in Austin, and in any case I-35 serves to divide the city. 
But the neighborhood where I am now living is largely black and has a significant proportion of African immigrants.  It's a different life and for the first time I have really had to confront some of my personal beliefs.  I haven't given up any core beliefs, but I am no longer able to simply dismiss or ignore the real cultural and experiential differences.  White America need to realize that we won't get beyond racism simply by pretending that differences don't exist.
3. Relatedly, it really is a challenging speech.  Here's a black man asking white America to admit that the anger that some black people feel is real and has a basis in fact.  That's a big challenge for a lot of people, and I worry sometimes that we're not up to it.
4. Finally, I like how he discussed his white grandmother and her reaction to black people.  He touches on an important reality here and he brought it up again a few days later in an interview.  The reality is that much of our culture still teaches white people to fear black people; it teaches us that skin color does make a difference; and furthermore these cultural messages are a real problem in our society.
Again, by way of personal confession, when traveling in Europe, I found that I often felt safe even in dangerous areas of some cities.  The reason was that until that point in my life, I had been told that blacks are criminals and dangerous while white people are safe and can be trusted.  This is not a good assumption to operate on in societies where there are no black people--and of course, it's not even a good assumption to operate on in our society, because it is manifestly false in the first place and because it is totally racist in the second.  It was as significant epiphany for me when I realized that this was happening.  I don't mean to suggest that the United States is racist as a whole and I don't mean to suggest that things can't get better.  I just mean to say that we still have problems with the stories that we tell ourselves and that racism can still stain white people as it stains blacks and hispanics.  Not in the same way and not in the same degree, but it's still there. 
Those are the four main things that I liked about the speech. I apologize for the personal nature of this post.  I adapted it from an email I originally wrote to a friend, but I thought it would be useful to put here for discussion purposes. I have some more thoughts on this issue and I'll probably put up another post later this week when I can get those worked out.