This is really a follow up to yesterday’s post about the power of story telling.

Last week, the Republicans told stories about their presidential candidate.  Now, it’s the Democrats’ turn.

First Lady Michelle Obama took center stage Tuesday evening in Charlotte, NC.

And when she got there, what did she do?

She told stories.

She talked about her father, a pump operator at the city water works who suffered from MS.  Using a walker to get around, he rose every morning and went to work.  He paid his share of his kids’ college tuition, the part not covered by their student loans.  Neither he nor Mrs. Obama’s mother had college educations, but they encouraged their children to attain that goal.  Both of them did.

That’s the American dream.

She told how her folks erected a plywood partition in the living room to make separate bedrooms for her and her brother.  Those must have been some pretty long cubicles judging from the size of her brother, now the head basketball coach at Oregon State.

Michelle told about the early days when Barack would come to pick up her up for a date in a car with the floorboard so rusted out she could see the pavement through the holes.

That’s the sort of detail that makes a story ring true.

She told about her love for her children, how she had serious misgivings about the ability of Barack to maintain his relationship with them if he became President of the United States. And she told how she had seen her husband work hard to maintain his ties with her daughters, including middle school strategizing at the dinner table.  

And she brought down the house.

By telling a few stories.

I don’t know if Michelle Obama has any political designs of her own. But I think Hillary Clinton may have been squirming in her chair somewhere last night.