Courtesy Channel Nine

John Howard set the tone on day one of the Liberal Party's federal council meeting — by falling asleep.

The imagery could not have been worse for a party doing its best to avoid being cast as old and tired. -- Jason Koutsoukis, It only takes a second … a bad time for a power nap.

Here were the two John Howard Party saviours -- His Nibs and His Nibbler -- showing Australians and attendees at the Born-to-Rule sleepover just how motivated they are. Moments later, the Garden Gnome-in-chief rose to his Florsheims to repeat the same old claptrap:

"It's never time for a change," Howard thundered. "Unless the change is for the better. And if the change is not for the better it is never just time for a change … so change for the sake of change is never an end in itself."

But that's not all Jason had to say in today's Sunday Age. Back there on the opinion page, (Tale of Peter Rabbit), he posed many compelling reasons why Peter Costello should step in to replace John Howard. Let's hope the John Howard Party faithful keep reading The Australian. Here are a few of Koutsoukis' points:

Let's imagine that Howard acted in the interests of his party this morning and announced to the Liberals' federal council meeting in Sydney that he had decided to step down. The media would go crazy. A deluge of Costello profiles would help present a softer side to the man who has been lumbered with the Treasury portfolio all these years and give the electorate the sense of "change" it has been yearning for.

A month-long Costello honeymoon would be just the circuit-breaker the Liberals need. Then Tanya Costello, a corporate lawyer, could also come out of the shadows. The Costellos are every bit the modern couple that the Rudds are.

Because Costello and Rudd are, in many ways, so similar, if Costello were leader it might cancel out much of Rudd's current appeal.

Rudd and Costello are the same age, they are both committed Christians, they are both economic conservatives, both republicans, are both married to women with high-flying careers of their own, and have the same number of children - who are all roughly the same age.

Some may worry that the polls show Costello is unpopular. But voters may look at Costello differently if he were prime minister, and they also might want to thank him for getting rid of Howard.

Another important question is "can Costello match Rudd in the areas where Rudd is doing well?" He certainly has some things Rudd doesn't.

Such as a sense of humour (has anyone ever seen Rudd really laugh, or crack a joke?). Costello is also a man who makes friends easily, while I'm yet to meet one person who describes themselves as a friend of Rudd's. (A Labor MP told me over dinner last week that he could not name a single friend Rudd has made in the eight years he has been in Parliament.)

There are also signs that Rudd shares some of the characteristics that made Hewson a poor political leader. He is a workaholic with a short temper, he is quick to blame others for mistakes and is apparently unwilling to listen to other points of view.

He also has a tendency to drive his staff too hard. Last week Rudd dumped his new chief of staff Simon Banks and replaced him with veteran Labor insider David Epstein. This just a few weeks after one of Rudd's new economic advisers hit the wall because he couldn't hack the pace.

It is also said that Rudd does not respect the intellect of most of his peers and doesn't mind showing it. Conversely, Rudd doesn't seem to command the sort of respect from the caucus that a good leader should have.

It's possible that if Costello were leader, he might be able to capitalise on these weaknesses and bring them to the surface in a way that Howard hasn't been able to do.

Scary stuff. Especially after you read David Marr's analysis of John Howard and, more importantly, the Australian psyche, in Careful, he might hear you:

We aren't the larrikins of our imagination. Australians are an orderly people. We grumble about authority instead of challenging it. We despise politicians. Belittling them as a class is a cover for our own passivity. We elect leaders much as we hire electricians: we may whinge about the job and haggle over the bill, but essentially we leave them to get on with their work.

Passivity in national affairs inevitably begets slick manipulators like John Howard. Australians don't give a shit about the political process. It's too hard, they say, let's keep the topic superficial. And hours and weeks and entire lives are spent dissecting the meaningless statistics of sport.

European nations have been invaded so often they tend to get jittery when peace reigns for too long. But nothing of a sort has happened in Australia. For Aussies the suffering has always been over there. This is true of Americans too, but the Yanks are always ready for a political discussion, where Australians instantly go mute.

Leave us not forget that just a couple of weeks ago Wilson Tuckey reminded all and sundry that Labor replaced Bill Hayden with Bob Hawke after Malcolm Fraser called the election. And Hawke won.

There are still six months to go and Jason K's potentially revitalised Liberal Party with Costello as PM could be an eye-bulging worry.

-- Tommy Pendejo