Aside from fleeting soundbites on the BBC I had never seen John Edwards speak before, so I was intrigued to see him on Jay Leno last night. This guy is really impressive. He has the gift of gab way above any of the others, and his self-effacing humor and easy-going manner, sincere or not, are brilliant.

Most refreshing was his blunt, fuck-political-correctness stand on gay marriage, which he openly endorsed. This is one of those third-rail issues, and watching an American presidential candidate take a real stand, without dancing around the topic with vague generalities, struck me as unprecedented.

Does he have the experience in national security and foreign relations that Bush has? Maybe not, but Bush didn’t have it either until his baptism by fire. (And has Bush been a model of wisdom in these areas?) Like Bush, it will depend on the people he surrounds himself with.

Edwards won’t win the nomination, but seeing him last night convinced me he is certainly a star in the ascendant. As Bush speaks, we can see him weighing every syllable and fighting to remember his talking points — usually with little success. Like Clinton, Edwards really communicates. The rapport he built with that audience in just a few minutes was dazzling.

At a time when Americans are sick and tired of the lies about the economy and jobs and Iraqi WMDs, Edwards offers an alternative that the people seem to be thirsting for. Keep your eye on him; he may not be on the ticket this year, but he’s certainly set the stage for 2008.

Update: I have to change the sentence in which I say he “openly endorsed” gay mariage. What he said was that he strongly opposes any constitutional amendment to outlaw gay mariage.