Yes, he is a good speaker and when you are used to listening to Bush I would imagine why he stands out. Afterall, keep in mind that Blair has to debate live on tv every week (Prime Minister's Question Time) and saying stuff like 'all i know is they are bad guys' would have him ousted by the end of the year. So, he has very good writers and he is skilled at public speaking.
I also think he gets a bit of a bad rap over here because everyone loves to hate the leader of the day. There are issues such as social care reforms, tuition fees, that have had negitive effects on the people of the UK. However, what will undo him is the spin and his relationship with his spokesperson Alastair Campbell. It is getting to the point where people don't belive what he says because everything is so carefully spun and now things that he 'spun' years ago are starting to come back and bite him in the bum. 'Oh what a tangled we we weave...'
That said, I like him a great deal more than any of the other party leaders in the UK. The Torry leader, Ian Duncan Smith, doesn't have a hope in hell of winning anything. The Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy lost it for me big time during the build up to the war. It was just too blatantly obvious that he was jumping on whatever band wagon.
As far as the war goes I think we should be happy there was a Blair. Hopefully he balanced out a bit of the gun-hoe from Bush's side. Problem is that as liberal as I am I feel he has lost touch with his electorate and he needs to do something rather quick to gain back their trust.
I will say that the British love to build someone up and then tear them down. It is almost a national sport and something that does annoy me at times. So, it was only a matter of time until Blair would be come the face of everything that is wrong with the country.
I would expect Blair to make it to the next election but once it is over here will either step down as leader or there will be a vote of confidence called. Get familiar with the name Gordon Brown.
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