No, but I've heard him talk and can see why people were drawn into listening about what his vision was.
It seems that Corbynites can't seem to get the fact that the public at large want to see a leader as a great orator. Would the civil rights movement in the US have been so powerful without the 'I have a dream..' speech. Why is Churchills 'Fight them on the beaches' speech remembered as one of the high points of WW2 despite coming at one of the darkest points?
Charisma goes a long way. This election is crying out for someone who can at least engage people. With neither side offering that then people are more than content for things to remain as they are.
Ask the man on the street why Corbyn is unelectable and the answer 9/10 will be because he is dull as dishwater. He cannot engage with the non political classes, paired with keystone kop Abbott and perhaps the most hateful man alive in McDonnell, that's why things are sliding so badly.
Blair wasn't a great orator though, either in Parliament or elsewhere. I doubt any of his speeches would go down in history because of the quality of the oratory, unlike
Cook's resignation speech or Hague's
speech on the EU Presidency. Indeed, I think its significant that you cite other people's work as the evidence as to how important oratory is.
Nor was Blair in and of himself that charismatic - in fact he was a control freak who went to often quite insane lengths to prevent even the slightest appearance of dissent, such as the failed attempt to block Livingstone as Mayor of London and the eventually failed attempt to stop Rhodri Morgan becoming Welsh first minister. What he did have in spades was a willingness to engage with the media, which - in return for favours we can all guess at - resulted in him being boosted, portrayed as the leader that you claim he was.
The truth of this is demonstrated by your last post. Corbyn is hated by the "political classes"; that is why all of them, and most of the media who are increasingly part of that circle, have spent the past two years attacking him. John McDonnell is described as "the most hateful man alive", which is a remarkable comment given the state of some of the men alive today.
