Maybe, but I think that people's perceptions are somewhat clouded by the simple fact that Labour as a whole was much more left-wing than it is now. Everyone's political centre of gravity has moved to the right since then, and the leaders of the party have reflected that.
If Kinnock was leader now, then he would be well within 'new Labour', and if Blair had been leader back then, he would be more or less where Kinnock was in terms of policy - he'd have to be. If Blair had become part of a Kinnock government, then he would happily have implemented those policies, while, like Kinnock, pushing to go further.
Kinnock was not of the 'do as much as we need to do to get elected' mould. Kinnock was of the same mould as Blair, which is the 'we have to do every thing we possibly can, and then even more' mould. Kinnock's problem was that near the end of his leadership, he ran out of steam and ideas, not that he didn't want the party to go any further.
Well, people forget that throughout the 80's the media was largely divided between pro-Tory and pro-SDP wings. Simplified, but essentially true. The pro-SDP wing only began to migrate back to Labour/the Tories after the demise of that party, and went to Labour emotionally and with gusto after Blair became leader. Blair is really the heir to David Owen in terms of the media. There was always a good portion of the media which was a sap for a charismatic, moderate leader - they were just in hibernation at points.