I'm intrigued by what made the speech "masterly". The delivery was pretty boring, by the way, jourdain, so you may have gained more from reading the thing. Nearly fell asleep listening to it, although that was at least partly because I was rather tired already.
That said, it did at least provide the clarity I think many people were hoping for about the actual direction the UK is planning to take, and that's always welcome. There were a few nice guarantees (mostly short-term, but to be fair that's all any government can actually guarantee anyway), some predictable aspirations, and a generally positive tone. I felt a bit saddened listening to it, perhaps, but you could say that it was the speech that we needed. A clear direction. Whether or not we'll be able to stick to it, who knows? Whether or not it was the best one to choose, also who knows? The main thing is that we're beyond this "Brexit means Brexit" crap.