Never before in the history of the republic has a traffic jam — in New Jersey, of all places — claimed center stage in presidential politics. Then again, there is no one in public life who stirs the drink like Chris Christie.
The round Republican is a force of nature unleashed on a citizenry both cynical about politicians and hungry for an honest one. Only he could have pulled off yesterday's exhaustive press conference with such confidence and clarity.
With his reputation for straight talk on the line and a cockiness among some Democrats that the bridge debacle could disqualify him for 2016, Christie put on a master class in how to confront a crisis.
His apology, his contrition, his claims of being "humiliated and embarrassed," as well as "blindsided" and "betrayed," all had the feel of truth.
His firing of two aides put an exclamation point to his seriousness. This was a man on a mission, and he appeared comfortable accepting responsibility for failure.
If he was lying, he's toast from coast to coast. But if he was being honest about what he didn't know and when he didn't know it, he may have done more than merely survive. He may have reminded many people why they liked him in the first place and even gained new followers.
As one reader wrote to me immediately after Christie finished his media marathon, "He just elected himself President in 2016. In 24 hours he will be 10 points ahead of Hillary Clinton in the nationwide polls."
I wouldn't go that far, but there's no question Christie is a different kind of pol with an unusual skill set. In an era when parsing the truth and blaming others passes for leadership, he tamed a press corps looking for blood and left the impression he was hiding nothing because he had nothing to hide. That's not as easy as he made it look.
Indeed, he was so direct in repeatedly asserting that he had no inkling of what his aides had done that he left himself zero wiggle room.
And therein lies a potential pitfall. Any deviation from his narrative would damage him.
And there are still some loose ends. As I wrote when he initially made light of the September jam, his joking brushoff of what was a clear abuse of power doesn't square with his ethos. Yet not until the Bergen Record published the fatal e-mails did Christie shift into high gear and finally demand the truth.
To take him at his word, aides had lied to him about their role, and he accepted it without any independent confirmation. That's pretty sloppy for a former federal prosecutor who made his bones by busting crooked politicians.
Had he smelled a rat earlier and ordered his aides to turn over their private e-mail accounts, he would have known of their role three months ago. The timing, in the middle of his re-election campaign, might have something to do with his lack of interest.
Then, too, there remains a mystery at the heart of the case. Why were the traffic jams ordered if not to punish Fort Lee's Democratic mayor over a political snub that, Christie insists, never happened? If not politics, what was the motive?
Christie's claims of total innocence will be challenged by the Democrats who control the state Legislature, and some already are clamoring for a congressional inquiry. Criminal probes are possible and civil litigation is certain, given the delays in emergency medical care the traffic jams caused.
In short, there are numerous forums where his story could unravel or at least appear to be less than the complete truth. In which case, his no-wiggle-room performance would come back to bite him.
But perspective asserts itself over time, and, absent a smoking gun, today's high drama will be a tired tale by 2016. And it's not as if Christie's likely opponents in both parties don't have skeletons of their own.
To cite one example, is Christie's mishandling of the traffic jam more important than Clinton's conduct before and after the Benghazi terror attack?
Three years from now, the answer could make or break a president.
mgoodwin@nypost.com
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