Well I've played a few hours with a few characters now, a Nord a Breton a Khajjit and a Bosmer and it seems the game is tailor made for a Nord compared to the races noted.
I played a Breton female and she moved much to sluggishly for me, the Bosmer special animal companion is rather pointless with the possible shouts in the game, and the Khajjit Night-eye power is mucked up and blurry.

I don't get it. Why does the game offer the option to play as other races and then cripple them?

The Nords are actually pretty far from having the best racial power...Try the Orc, Altmer, Redguard or Argonian....Basically every race you didn't play...