Sen. John Edwards was the keynote speaker at Gnomedex in Seattle today and he gets my vote just for being here today. Gnomedex is a hard-core geek audience, very passionate about social media but with a bit of the smugness that unfortunately characterizes serious techies.

Edwards handled himself superbly, in my view. While his talk didn’t break any new ground (what political speech ever does?), he made it clear that the ideal of engaging with an audience through conversations rather than lectures was critical to the evolution of the political process.

“The changes that you are creating have the potential to literally change our democracy and get people engaged in a more serious way than they ever have before,” he said. “Instead of having leaders speak at people, there’s the potential for a meaningful dialog that just hasn’t existed before.”

Edwards’ OneAmerica Committee is using blogs and podcasts to communicate with constituencies and gather input. Prompted to install a vlogger on his campaign bus to write about the day-to-day activities of the campaign, he called the suggestion a “great idea.” The only time he flinched is when someone suggested his campaign start a wiki. The glazed look in the senator’s eyes showed that he had no idea what the questioner was talking about. But who can blame him?

On an issue near and dear to the audience, Edwards made it clear he comes down squarely in favor of net neutrality. “We need net neutrality,” he said. “I’m a very strong supporter of it.”

I thought his most interesting observation was on the tendency of politicians to fall into obfuscation and vagueness. “It’s very hard to do if you’re in an environment where there are reporters asking you questions,” he said. “It’s a very fast and intense situation and you have to think quickly. It’s hard in that environment to just be normal. I try to retrain myself to speak honestly in that situation but it’s hard even for me.”

He gave the impression that as a candidate, though, he’ll try not to mince words. “If the Democratic party is going to lead this country, we’ve got to show a little backbone,” he said. “Why can’t our party say we are for universal health care? Instead, we say we’re going to try to make health care more affordable. Those are weasel words that politicians use when they don’t want to say something.”

Someone near me criticized Edwards for talking too much and listening too little, but I was just impressed that he was here at all. I tried to imagine George W. voluntarily engaging with an audience of serious geeks and I just can’t see it. It would be horribly embarrassing for him. Edwards may not speak the language, but he understands the importance of the conversation. That, in itself, sets him apart from his opponents.

Categories: influence, Gnomedex