http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/editorial/view/20100123-249070/The-egotist
MANILA, Philippines—The presidential bid of Joseph Estrada can be summarized in three words: it is about I, Me and Myself. He is the male counterpart of the faded silent movie-era star Nora Desmond in Billy Wilder’s classic film, “Sunset Boulevard.” It tells of a failed screen writer who gravitates to Desmond, who dreams of making a cinematic comeback. In the end she kills the screenwriter in a jealous fit, and ends up losing all touch with reality, thinking that the news crews covering the murder are a film crew that has begun filming her comeback role.
One of the Nora Desmond character’s famous lines is “I am big! It’s the pictures that got small.” In his mind, Joseph Estrada is still the big shot matinee idol, champion and idol of the masses; but the reality is it’s his fantasy of relevance that has enlarged over time even as his box office and electoral clout has diminished. This is not to say that the clout has evaporated totally or that he hasn’t retained his fan base. He obviously still does.
The surveys show him increasing his percentage but it needs to be asked if this is purely a function of his reclaiming his constituency, or more the interaction of official concessions and that constituency rallying because of these unexpected signs of official favor.
Prior to Estrada’s throwing his hat into the ring, the legal consensus was that the Constitution prohibited former presidents from seeking the presidency. This was a view we believe was widely shared by the public. The Palace, for its part, had tried to limit Estrada’s freedom of political action by holding over his head a condition in his pardon that stated he would give up political aspirations. But when the deadline for the filing of candidacies for 2010 approached, the Palace itself announced it had no intention of blocking his comeback plans. The Comelec, so strict in the case of party lists like Ang Ladlad and presidential candidates such as Nicanor Perlas, lapsed into uncritical promiscuity in the case of Estrada. Where once the legal consensus was that Estrada would have to appeal a Comelec dismissal of his candidacy, the burden of proof shifted to those who might want to oppose Estrada’s Comelec-approved candidacy before the Supreme Court. The possibility of Estrada’s candidacy eventually being voided as constitutionally-impermissible remains; but the hurdles have been magically cleared so far, and this can only foster Estrada’s delusions not only of himself, but also with the electorate.
And for no other purpose than self-gratification: his I, Me and Myself candidacy is premised on recovering the position he lost by virtue of his own indolence, irresponsibility and blitheness after being elected to the presidency in a voters’ revolt against the status quo. Now he is all about restoring the status quo, pre-Edsa Dos.
It is as if Edsa Dos had never happened. Ironically, he has become joined at the hip with the administration that replaced him in the sense that both have reacted to Edsa Dos with an insistence on impunity. Estrada insists he never did any wrong; Arroyo insists (along with Estrada) that Edsa Dos itself was wrong and both prefer that all memory and commemoration of it be discarded and forgotten.
Estrada was the heedless beginning, just as Ms Arroyo is the vindictive end, of a lost decade in terms of growth, stability and opportunity because each represents an unhealthy extreme—charismatic leadership for the former and unimaginative management for the latter—and both refused to be tied to ethics. It is no wonder that they have found common purpose in attacking Edsa Dos because the former provoked it, and the latter betrayed it. So the administration has acted like a drug pusher in being the enabler of Estrada’s sense of impunity to a Constitution both have observed mainly in the breach.
The comeback Estrada wants is not about the country. It is about addiction. The same lust for gambling, drinking and womanizing that led Estrada to bungle the presidency is making him run regardless of how his nostalgia for lost power promises nothing but a return to failure.
The surveys show him increasing his percentage but it needs to be asked if this is purely a function of his reclaiming his constituency, or more the interaction of official concessions and that constituency rallying because of these unexpected signs of official favor.
Prior to Estrada’s throwing his hat into the ring, the legal consensus was that the Constitution prohibited former presidents from seeking the presidency. This was a view we believe was widely shared by the public. The Palace, for its part, had tried to limit Estrada’s freedom of political action by holding over his head a condition in his pardon that stated he would give up political aspirations. But when the deadline for the filing of candidacies for 2010 approached, the Palace itself announced it had no intention of blocking his comeback plans. The Comelec, so strict in the case of party lists like Ang Ladlad and presidential candidates such as Nicanor Perlas, lapsed into uncritical promiscuity in the case of Estrada. Where once the legal consensus was that Estrada would have to appeal a Comelec dismissal of his candidacy, the burden of proof shifted to those who might want to oppose Estrada’s Comelec-approved candidacy before the Supreme Court. The possibility of Estrada’s candidacy eventually being voided as constitutionally-impermissible remains; but the hurdles have been magically cleared so far, and this can only foster Estrada’s delusions not only of himself, but also with the electorate.
And for no other purpose than self-gratification: his I, Me and Myself candidacy is premised on recovering the position he lost by virtue of his own indolence, irresponsibility and blitheness after being elected to the presidency in a voters’ revolt against the status quo. Now he is all about restoring the status quo, pre-Edsa Dos.
It is as if Edsa Dos had never happened. Ironically, he has become joined at the hip with the administration that replaced him in the sense that both have reacted to Edsa Dos with an insistence on impunity. Estrada insists he never did any wrong; Arroyo insists (along with Estrada) that Edsa Dos itself was wrong and both prefer that all memory and commemoration of it be discarded and forgotten.
Estrada was the heedless beginning, just as Ms Arroyo is the vindictive end, of a lost decade in terms of growth, stability and opportunity because each represents an unhealthy extreme—charismatic leadership for the former and unimaginative management for the latter—and both refused to be tied to ethics. It is no wonder that they have found common purpose in attacking Edsa Dos because the former provoked it, and the latter betrayed it. So the administration has acted like a drug pusher in being the enabler of Estrada’s sense of impunity to a Constitution both have observed mainly in the breach.
The comeback Estrada wants is not about the country. It is about addiction. The same lust for gambling, drinking and womanizing that led Estrada to bungle the presidency is making him run regardless of how his nostalgia for lost power promises nothing but a return to failure.
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