Christie Can Talk, But He Can’t Win
A couple days ago, the New York Times journalist Michael Barbaro told me that Chris Crhistie is the most skilled speaker in the Republican race this year.
I didn’t believe it — until today. I saw him speak twice on Monday, once as the audience on the set of a TV show, and then as a journalist at a local community meeting. In both environments, he excelled.
MSNBC filmed its “Morning Joe” in front of a live audience this Monday, at JD’s tavern in Manchester. The show had a number of illustrious guests, including Kate Snow, Andrea Mitchell, Chuck Todd, and Jeb Bush (and even Donald Trump called in).
But the star of the show, this time was not Trump. No, the star of the show was Governor Christie.
He started by bashing Rubio’s predictability, mainly referencing his puzzlingly robotic debate performance. In the process he made a joke about Mike Tyson, drawing laughs from the audience (he also winked at one of the men who laughed loudest at the joke). His onslaught culminated with this: “when I’m president, I’m not going to need to read the owner’s manual.”
And that’s the beauty of Christie’s discourse. He speaks simply, using analogies to relate a race for the presidency to common experiences of the American people — like reading an owner’s manual.
At his town hall meeting, he made exactly the same types of connections — one time using the very venue of the meeting as an example of how Dodd-Frank is hurting small business. Not a lot of candidates can simply explain Dodd-Frank, but Chris Christie did. He says what he thinks, and he says it simply. In the words of his own campaign slogan, he “says it like it is.”
It’s not only his direct and simple speech that makes him great, though. He also has a master at establishing rapport. He did it on TV with his winks and his jokes, and he did it at the town hall meeting with personal contact, like pats on the back and handshakes. But more importantly, he did it by dedicating about 45 minutes out of an hour-long rally to answering questions. To make him seem even more generous, he said as the end of the rally was nearing, “they’re saying I have time for one more question, so that means I’ll take two.” I don’t know who “they” are, but throwing them under the bus is a small price to pay to seem more generous.
Needless to say, Christie is skilled. But his skills won’t win him the election.
First, there’s Trump. A good part of Christie’s appeal comes from his forthright way of speaking — but its hard to outdo Trump in that regard, and so many voters who might have opted for Christie are jumping onboard with Trump. In an obvious jab to Trump, Christie concluded his speech saying, “Don’t just vote for the angry guy. Vote for the angry guy who can get things done.” But voters seem convinced that Trump can get things done, so to many, the argument falls flat.
But there’s also the nature of how he talks. He goes heavy on shoulder pats and winks, and he avidly answers people’s questions. These kinds of interaction are great for a small audience — I’m sure Christie swayed plenty of voters at the meeting, but there were only about 150 people there. His speaking strategies just don’t translate to a national audience.
On the other hand, Donald Trump just isn’t that good of a speaker, but he has great one-liners, which translate into great sound bites, which appear on the TV’s of millions of Americans.
So while Christie says what he thinks, Trump says it louder. And that’s why he’s winning, and Christie’s not.
