There were echoes of Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt, but President Obama uttered no words today that will be quoted in a hundred years. He has never been a real stem-winder or a coiner of unforgettable phrases; what he's always been is a great explainer, who pays the rest of us the highest compliment-the appeal to reason. Today he explained why Americans need to grow up, and the tone and vision of his speech-sober, realistic, clear-minded, undaunted-were absolutely equal to the occasion and the times, down to his requisite scriptural passage: "The time has come to set aside childish things." (This nonbeliever was also pleased to be included, for once, in the roll call of faiths-especially after Rick Warren's utterly sectarian invocation.)

    The speech was, among other things, and in spite of the gracious gesture at its opening, a devastating repudiation of ex-President Bush, who seemed to be shrinking physically as well as historically whenever the camera found him, until, by the end, his unimportance was almost bewildering. Now he is gone.

    The rest of the world was listening, too, and Obama saved his most eloquent words for them: "Because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace." He also set for his goals in America's two ongoing wars a responsible withdrawal from Iraq and a "hard-earned peace" in Afghanistan-not victory. Here, too, Obama showed that he won't allow tempting rhetoric to undermine what's possible, what's real, which is part of his call to a "new era of responsibility." But no lines were more passionately delivered by this restrained and conciliatory man than these: "We will not apologize for our way of life nor will we waver in its defense. And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

    He delivered something better than rhetorical excitement-he spoke the truth, which makes its own history and carries its own poetry. As for the poet who had the impossible job of immediately following the new President, I'll leave it to you to judge.

    The most reassuring thought on this Inauguration Day is that we Americans always get the President we deserve.