President Bush gave a barn-burner of a speech to the NAACP last night.

Reading the text this morning, I was struck by how effectively he built one rhetorical bridge after another to connect with an audience that was at best skeptical and at worst downright hostile.

Relations between the Republican Party and the African-American community have been strained for years. Until last night, President Bush had declined five invitations in a row to speak to the NAACP’s annual convention.

Acknowledging the introduction by NAACP President Bruce Gordon, he broke the ice by saying: “Bruce is a polite guy -- I thought what he was going to say, it's about time you showed up. (Laughter and applause.) And I'm glad I did. (Applause.) See, I see this as a moment of opportunity. I have come to celebrate the heroism of the civil rights movement, and the accomplishments of the NAACP.”

The rest of the speech was in the same vein, with Mr. Bush making repeated references to working with Bruce Gordon and other leaders of the African-American community to address the concerns of black Americans.

He got applause for his references to federal grants to rebuild the Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina, and his administration's efforts to improve education, strengthen social programs and fight AIDS. And especially for his pledge to sign the extension of the Voting Rights Act.

He made a subtle case for why African-Americans should vote Republican. Nearly half of all African-Americans today own their own homes. Many own their own businesses – and his administration has increased loans to African-American owned businesses by 40 percent. He also mentioned a visit he made to Canton, Mississippi, where he asked a group of black workers how many of them had their own 401(k) retirement programs. Half the hands went up. In other words, African-Americans already have a big stake in the success of the American economy, and that stake is getting bigger all the time.

Perhaps the most eloquent passage of the speech was this shrewd use of imagery:

“I've got a friend named Tony Evans. Some of you may know Tony, from Dallas, Texas. He was one time giving a sermon. I heard him speak, and I want to share with you what it was. He said -- he told a story about the man who had a crack on one of the walls in his home. So he got the plasterer to come by, and the guy plastered the wall. And about four days later, the crack reappeared. Got another plasterer in, put the plaster on the wall, and it reappeared again. He's getting frustrated. He finally called a wise fellow over. The man explained what the problem was with the cracks on the wall. He said, look, in order to solve the cracks on the wall, you have to fix the foundation.

“What I want to do is work with the NAACP to help fix the foundations of our society. We want strong families. (Applause.) We want to help people who need help. We want to help the addicted, we want to help the homeless, we want to help those who are trying to reenter society after having been incarcerated. That's what we want to do. We want to help lives be improved. (Applause.) Government can hand out money -- and we do -- but it cannot put hope in a person's heart, or a sense of purpose in a person's life. That's why I strongly support institutions of faith and community service all around our country. I believe in the neighborhood helpers and healers.”

It’s interesting that after extending five regrets, Mr. Bush should have accepted the invitation of the new NAACP President, Bruce Gordon. Gordon is the first businessman to lead the NAACP, and he had apparently done some reaching out on his own to assure Mr. Bush that he would get a fair hearing if he spoke to the convention.

Mr. Bush did – and he made the most of it. His address to the NAACP did everything a good speech could do to improve relations between the GOP and Black America.

But for all that, it was just a speech. One of the attendees, a 75-year-old retired teacher from Memphis named Alice Jeffries spoke for many when she said: "Somebody wrote him a pretty good speech, but I am still indifferent."

Mr. Bush made a good start with his speech, but it will take more than words to win over the skeptics in his audience.