Howard believes he is who he would like to be. And that to my mind is the 21st cent equivalent of Menzies - grand father of the Liberal party and hence of Australia when she rode on the sheep's back and wool was worth a Pound/lb.
But Menzies is an anachronism now (at least to my humble mind) and god forbid we should have another.
This man today is not a statesman - he is a pragmatist simply drawing his position from what the 'general populace' desire/ 'think'/ want.