Truly is he? in past years he only had to make a speech and his opponents trembled.
Now his polling drops after every appearance and he seems unable to re capture his hold on the public.
Given the polls ,and we can not overlook they remain firmly against him John Howard has indeed lost it.
Is it time for Peter Costello to take over?
Peter has been practicing the removal of his built in sneer and that new found smile besides hurting his face may just see some real use in this election.
In my view Howard is past it.

“Peter has been practicing the removal of his built in sneer and that new found smile besides hurting his face…”

Aaaaaahaahahaha, I like it! It looks like it hurts his face!

YES Howard is past it, despite obvious energy and acuity.

But the really important thing is that the whole political approach is way past its use-by date… and Rudd is just going to continue on with more of the same.

We need a whole new approach: a sustainability party. http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=562

perhaps howard is as good as ever. the labor party has been unable to convince the electorate of the need for change with compelling policy offers, and compounded their 'metooism' with leaders visibly without any credentials save party room seniority or branch stacking facility. howard has never been any good- but good wasn't necessary when labor was visibly pathetic.

finally, the cracks in the 'growth is good' business mentality of the howard government are beginning to make the electorate nervous. i can not imagine why anyone would not understand that finite resources demand population control and ecologically sustainable policies. but ozzies don't pay attention until they are told not to wash the car. when they are told not to water the lawn, not to take long showers, fill the pool with a rock garden, and buy a rain tank, even the dimmest, most self-indulgent civilian is impelled to look around the politicians corral. kevvy is bright, articulate, youngish, and can talk green while having no intention of disturbing the mining industry, or upsetting the nutters in washington. he's a shoo-in. whether he's any substantial improvement on howard is much less clear.

but ozzies don't deserve any better. cows only ever get graziers, not philosopher-kings.

I believe that John Howard is past it. He was past it when Costello tried to take over. Unfortunately, when people are past it, they don't know it, and it was up to the Liberal Party to give JH his marching orders. Does that mean that the Liberal Party is also past it?

I don't know, but the Liberals seem to have overlooked the fact that governments lose, oppositions don't win. It is obvious to all but the most enthusiastic Labor supporter that Kevin Rudd (a mere decade in parliament) and the Labor Party simply cannot win the election. The Government will have to lose.

And, thanks to Howard's refusal to step aside for a fresh leader, it looks very much as though the Government will lose.

I believe that the Coalition Government we have had for a dozen years is the least bad of a very bad bunch, but I think that we will have an inexperienced, ALP Government - unable to handle money (they never could)at the end of this year. All because Howard is past it. He has been downright embrrassing over the last 12 months.

So, all you Laborites can get ready for 4 years of glory (and chaos that we will all have to endure). It will be nice not see you whining about the goverment for a while. After all you have said, you should be very happy with Kevin.

To even think of putting Labor in charge of this nation is too terrible, they are simply juvenile,unready ,unable.
John Howard is a hard worker, Rudd maybe up to the job in another ten years if he can get rid of Labor's ideology, get rid of the lefties, get some common sense.
But not now.

The Prime Minister is not past it. He still has the capacity to run the country and run it extremely well. Unfortunately the media has made up its collective mind that we need a change of government so they are backing Mr Rudd. It is being done subtly but it is being done. Watch the news critically and you will see that Rudd is permitted to criticise every time Howard says something. Rudd is giving his team very little chance to say anything. That way they cannot make any blunders but it indicates that both he and the media distrust the capacity of the ALP team to actually deliver anything.
Rudd himself is far too inexperienced. He needs at least one term in Opposition before he can even contemplate having the experience to run the country - if then. He has, after all, never held a Ministerial portfolio