Bringing an audience to tears: telling a story really, really well

I watched Christ Christie tell a story about his mother's deathbed wish.  It brought a crowded room to a hush.   It was a good story and a useful one.   It makes you like Christie.

Can a person become president on the basis of one good story?  We might find out.

I have repeated the story a few times to people here in Medford who asked about Chris Christie.   He is a major talent, I said, and if he can get through the primary he will be a powerful opponent for Hillary, I have predicted.   

And this morning, in the New York Times, I read that Christie is still at it, telling the same story, and still getting a big reaction.  The Times wrote:

"STRATHAM, N.H. — In the course of a two-hour campaign stop here, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey brought a handful of men and women to tears describing the deathbed wishes of his cancer-ridden mother, cracked them up with the declaration that his presidency would be golf-free and riveted them with his remembrances of the family friends he lost on Sept. 11, 2001."

If it turns out that Christie does well in New Hampshire, then the momentum takes him to South Carolina and on to the presidency one reason will be this story.   Christie tells it really well, which makes sense.  He has lots of practice at it.   Rather than describe the story I am going to tell the story.   That way you will know what I mean. 

Here it is, my memory of it, as it would be said by Christie:

 "You have to understand my mother.  She was Sicilian and she was the forceful leader in our family.  I love my father, who is watching right now on a live video feed, but mom was the strong one.  She said what was on her mind.   Straight out, clear and simple.  'There will be deathbed confessions in our family,' she said.   "We don't hold back, we say what is on our mind.'  And she did.   Our family got very good at conflict resolution because we were taught don't hold back.

My mother was a cigarette addict.  She tried everything to stop smoking but could not.   Hypnosis, cold turkey, everything.  And then at age 72 she got a diagnosis of lung cancer.  Sometimes the disease goes slowly, but not for my mother.  The cancer progressed quickly. I was in LA at a conference for US Attorneys when I got a call from my brother.  'Christopher, come home immediately.  Mom is in the hospital, it doesn't look good.  If you want to see her, get home now.'

I got on a red eye and arrived at Newark Airport the next morning and took a cab to the hospital.  She was on pain medication and a little woozy but she opened her eyes when I came in.   'Christopher, what are you doing here?'   First thing out of her mouth.

'Hello, mom, I came to be with you.'

'What day is it, Christopher?'

'Friday, Mom.'

'What time Friday?'

'Ten a.m., Mom.'

Mom lay there, thinking about it.  Then she said. 'Go to work.'

'What?   Mom, I came to spend the day with you.' 

'Go to work.'

'Mom, are you worried about the taxpayers?  The taxpayers are getting more than their share of time from me.  I want to be here, with you.'

Mom opened her eyes and looked at me.   'Christopher, we have said everything that needs to be said.  There is nothing else for us to say here.   Go to work.'

(In telling it Christie pauses for 3 or 4 seconds.)  So I went to work.  (Again, silence.)

I want you to understand that some people say that I am too in-your-face, too blunt.   Well, I learned from my mother that we don't have deathbed confessions.   We say what we mean, right here, right now, so everyone knows where they stand and what we mean.   No hidden agendas.  No tiptoeing around.   My friends and my staff and the people of New Jersey know what I think is right or wrong.  I didn't just learn this as a prosecutor or in politics. That's who I am.   I got that from my mother and we could use some straight, honest communication in Washington DC and that's what I offer, because that  (pause)  that is who I am."

The story drew tears when I heard it and apparently it still does.   The story is useful for Chris Christie because it draws an appealing picture of a boy who loves his mother, it explains his blunt manner as evidence of forthrightness rather than (Trumpian) narcissism, and it suggests that he would be somehow a change in Washington because his blunt honesty is deeply authentic, not contrived or partisan.

The story works better told aloud rather than read and Christie tells it better than I just wrote it.   But if the story is new to you then there it is.   If Christie becomes our next president a significant reason for it will be that he could bring people to tears with that story.