Is John Howard losing his touch?

Round 1; Howard;

"If I was running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats"

Ouch! Tiger.

Round 2; Obama;

"So, if he's ginned up to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them up to Iraq. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric."
The US has close to 140,000 troops in Iraq, and Australia has 1400. So, it is a fair point.

Round 3; Howard

"If I hear a policy being advocated that is contrary to Australia's security interests I will criticise it"

Round 4; Obama

"I think it's flattering that one of George Bush's allies on the other side of the world started attacking me the day after I announced my candidacy,"

Not very edifying for either politician though, is it? Hilary and Ken must be cracking open the bubbly.

Together with John Howard's recent dramatic U-turn on environmental policy, and the emergence of a serious contender in the shape of Kevin Rudd, is it time to say goodbye to the cricket-loving old man?