A monopoly on history is a monopoly of power. A monopoly of telling the narrative can only match the writer’s ideological standpoint. What really happened in EDSA? Who were the protagonists? The bad guys? Those who chose to sit on the sidelines? What was the context in which the event happened? Was it planned or spontaneous? What were the events that led to it?
If remembering is a way to reconstruct events in history, then different sections of society will see the past through multiple views. The view from the left is not the same from the right. The view from the top cannot be the same as that from the bottom. What is not contested is that the People Power revolution was good. This is probably why so many camps seek to co-opt EDSA to suit their own purposes today. Co-opting EDSA endows one with magic/legitimising properties. Co-opting EDSA allows one to be morally right. And so it seems, rarely do we ‘remember’ in an entirely objective manner. On such a momentous event as the People Power revolution, the politics of remembering is rife.
Perhaps the tendency to multiple views on EDSA 1986 is a measure of how fractured and segmented we remain. In a sense, what was true twenty-four years ago remains true today. Those who would insist that no such fractures exist are ideologically blind if not idiots.
And then there are those who do not choose to remember at all. The concreteness of the past today dissolves in the immediate. Is it in our nation’s unarticulated philosophy not to dwell and cling to that which has transpired before? Is it not in our psyche to unearth as would archeologists, social artifacts? As a snake sheds its skin, so we seem to shed the past as if useless. But then, forgetting is a also an act of political expediency. For those who choose to forget and those who encourage the forgetting, EDSA is at best a failure to revolution and at worst a recessive gene that might choose to self-manifest in a new generation.
What is EDSA People Power for you? An ephemeral, collective suspension of sanity? A flash mob-like psychic shield against tyranny? An extraordinary one-time big-time exercise of citizenship after almost two decades of slumber?
I choose to remember EDSA as a promise we have failed to keep. The glimpse of heaven all too brief before reality landed us back on the ground. It was not so much an event as it was a condition with the magic mix of elements to fix a deeply corrupted nation – love and respect for country and others as one loves and respects oneself. At the core, is this not what democracy is about?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Sparks, you remind me of John Godfrey Saxe’s 6 Blind Men And The Elephant:
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, “Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ’tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he;
” ‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
We were at that point in our recent history that Filipinos so needed to believe that the democracy Marcos savaged could indeed to recovered.
But in the process the ‘victors’, in my view went on to treat people power as something THEY owned.
Now, as a new generation would-be leaders tries to grapple with what EDSA really was, are not unlike the 6 sightless men.
But they need not be blind nor attempt to simply own or remember EDSA.
We must, all of us, keep it alive against new threats to our freedoms.
Hey, the victors write the history. They will distort it to make
themselves look like superheroes.
“I choose to remember EDSA as a promise we have failed to keep.”
do you think noynoy should be punished for that?
Maybe he’ll do better. At least he’s not a political tyro. Who knows? Among the choices he seems to be the least evil.
Counting back 24 years, Noynoy was already in his mid-20′s when EDSA took place.
One can’t help thinking that he knows full well where EDSA failed.
Wasn’t EDSA simply the power elite taking control once again after the “usurper” (and non-400 family arriviste’s) Marcos sway over the country for two + decades? Just a different perspective, perhaps. But have things gotten better or worse for the Philippines since EDSA? What sort of “revolution” was it, exactly? I’m still trying to sort this out in my head.
Enjoying your blog; keep up the great writing.
Best from Canada,
Michael
Well, there is certainly that perspective as well, but alone it cannot possibly paint the whole picture.
Here’s another outsider perspective from The Atlantic’s James Fallows, It was written in November 1987 and appears to have been extremely controversial in the Philippines after it was published. Any thoughts on Fallows’ comments about EDSA?
LINK: A Damaged Culture. I don’t want to reopen old wounds, but I found the article extremely provocative. Best, Michael
I’ve read it before. There’s no such thing as a “damaged” culture. Dysfunctional – yes.
it seems that the problem fallows sees is:
1) the elite/industrialists are “afraid” of intl competition
2) regular filipinos would rather not be filipinos, and look down on poorer filipinos.
really? is this true? he doesnt really prove his case for (1), he only has his belief in protectionism. evidence is mixed — the most we can say is that protectionism doesnt hurt. his evidences for (2) are
2. 1) some american he spoke to in smokey mountain
2.2) a survey to school kids
2.3) application to the US navy
is this the kind of evidence we want to hang our hat on? i dunno.
i think if u want to improve ur lot in life, and migration is an option, you’ll consider it. filipinos are especially able to migrate due to the colonial connection and english speaking. this is the same reasons why there are lots of indians in england. to make a theory about damaged/dysfunctional culture based on a desire to migrate is shaky indeed.
if this is all of what fallows is saying, i dont know how true or useful it is.
michael,
Here is another story told by Gephine Fernandez Pilipino History 101: The People Power Revolution.
A little bit of history.
Let’s be plain here. It is the members of the business community supporting the candidacy of Noynoy Aquino who are the only logical suspects to be accused of co-opting EDSA to suit their interests today. So is it justifiable to suspect them of harboring such personal vested interests?
Much has been written and will be written about the political and social legacy of the EDSA revolution of ’86. First hand accounts recall how people were much more “civil”. There was an egalitarian sense of order and pride amid the throngs of people from all walks of life who observed the same set of rules of propriety, decency and compassion. The same virtues and qualities that seem to be missing in our public life ever since.
The “market for rules” which I argue in The Cusp (25 Feb ’10) has emerged among the business community, the so-called “civil” or “evil” society (depending on who you consult), which turned its back on the Marcos regime in the lead up to EDSA I. Amid suspicions that it is not genuine, I point out that a likely shift in the institutional fabric of our society has taken place.
Just as People Power I led to the restoration of Western-styled democracy in less than 18 months, the evolution of complementary Western capitalist modes of transacting based on impersonal contracting has taken a more circuitous route-battered and bruised by intervening events.
After the lessons borne out of the flawed EDSA sequels, we could be on the cusp of something new, in which the conditions for a genuine economic takeoff grounded on a more efficient set of rules are beginning to take shape.
To make the long story short, our half-baked capitalist society perfectly matches our half-baked democracy :-)
It depends on how you look at it-is the glass half full or half empty?
Answer : half-empty. and it is half-empty because that is what grandparents told their children, and that is what these parents are now telling their children. Just look at the newspapers and listen to the airwaves. GMA is corrupt. Lozada is corrupt. Erap, just like FVR before him and Cory before FVR, all corrupt. Ping Lacson is corrupt. The high school principal is corrupt. Yeah, the principal of the high school principal in the next town — also corrupt. The teacher is corrupt. The galungong vendor is corrupt. The botika owner is corrupt. The policeman is corrupt.
It is the message constantly told over and over again from the elder generation to the younger — not only that Pilipinos-in-Pinas (not Pilipinos outside Pinas, just Pilipinos in Pinas)… that Pilipinos in Pinas are corrupt. Not only are Pilipinos in Pinas corrupt but that Pilipinos in Pinas have to learn to live with this if they want to move forward. In case of doubt, might as well assume that the uncle of the guy sitting next to you is corrupt or that that politician-dude Biazon is corrupt. And don’t ask for evidence because who needs facts when one already knows the truth?
What you sow (what you teach) so you shall reap.
“Perhaps the tendency to multiple views on EDSA 1986 is a measure of how fractured and segmented we remain.” I disagree: historical narratives r all about multiple views, as students of history will tell u. That’s why we have terms like “historiography,” which is about HOW history is written — is it a master narrative (white, colonial, male, elite, etc) or a subaltern one (tribal, peasant, female), for example? That’s why there r different “schools” that look at the same period from very different points of reference. Different subjects r privileged by each school. So I would argue that multiplicity is in the nature of historical writing itself, because there will always be multiple views of any event, whether it is EDSA or something else. While we r fractured in many ways, it is not because of “the tendency (towards) multiple views” but because of a far more complex set of reasons there is no space to go into here.
As for “the glimpse of heaven all too brief before reality landed us back on the ground,” that strikes me as being somewhat naive, if u don’t mind my saying so. People at EDSA weren’t expecting “heaven” — they just wanted the Marcos dictatorship to end. Those who thought ALL our social ills would die and go to heaven were quixotic peddlers of wish-fulfillment. Part of the problem is that people tend to have unrealistic expectations. Revolutions, especially bourgeois ones, don’t lead to heaven: they lead, at best, to short-term change. It is up to US to remain vigilant, and to slowly but surely attempt to enact long-term change with every passing generation.
Could u possibly be a little more specific about this “cusp of something new,” the cusp? It would help to ground the discussion a little. Thanks.
I’m working on it, Lila. It would require a lengthy discussion. I will be posting something on my blog shortly, but at the heart of it lies a growing demand for the rule of law among our economic and political elite.
I know it doesn’t seem like it, and there is nothing inevitable about it. But if you trace the last 24 years and look at historical precedents elsewhere (I am talking 17th C England here), we might begin to see some (a lot of) historical parallels.
Hmm — interesting, cusp. Would love to read your take when you’re ready.
It’s ready. I hope I haven’t oversold it.
hello.
by the way i am an avid supporter of EDSA social movement of 1986. in fact, i am writing a philosophical research regarding this event specifically on the philosphical ethical evaluation of the EDSA as a social movement.
do you have some thoughts regarding this context. can i ask your help, how can i turn this pieces of writing into a philosophical piece.
“What is EDSA People Power for you?”
I like this piece of yours, Sparks! Balanced, fair, and objective. I could very well appreciate why Cory’s EDSA is nostalgia for many and baggage to some.
Indeed, for the political butterflies in our neck of the woods, EDSA was just another nectar to drench their unquenchable thirst for power.
sparks,
EDSA succeeded in overthrowing Marcos, the dictatorship. EDSA succeeded in bringing back our right to choose and elect our leaders, and our bill of rights. It gave us back the chance to determine our own destiny, to write our own history. It did not fail in that respect.
Those who say EDSA failed say it because they saw EDSA as a kind of silver bullet and that the darkness would lift automatically after the vampire was killed. Many of us projected our dream of a new Philippines on the EDSA canvass. But in fact EDSA just got rid of someone and his system, a dictatorship that prevented us from determining our own destiny.
We have moved up and onward since the days before EDSA but the road is long and full of dangerous twists and turns, potholes, roadblocks, and bandits. We must persevere against these challenges, we must not lose hope and turn cynical because cynicism is what gives scoundrels life.
We won back our freedom and democracy through EDSA. That cannot be denied. That there are those who are trying to steal what we fought so hard to regain is also a fact.
EDSA opened the door for us, gave us an opportunity to start anew. The rest is up to us.
Hear, hear..
i agree with this.
Very refreshing. I second.
I’ve said this somewhere, let me say it again, please.
We have two choices, for our own sake:
1. whether to buy a clean linen.
2. whether to buy a dirty linen.
To wipe our asses.
It’s our choice to make.
gabby, noynoy should be punished for edsa’s failures?!?!?
this sounds so preposterous i suspect it’s a troll.
with all due respect to santayana and our patriotic pinoys, arguments about ownership of the EDSA Revolution(s) sounds a little too much navel-gazing for bloggers with too much time on their hands. It belongs to the Filipino people and that the candidates lay claim to it is only as good as how validly they speak for the country, which can only be determined in May.
i’m not a troll — apparently u are an ogre! (get it? shrek?!)
i ask coz some people say that an aquino has been a president already, and the results were decidedly mixed. when we consider noynoy, should we hold that against him?
GabbyD,
Was that a “Donkey” or a “Jackass” that follows him…!
Hidden Dragon,
Excuse me for breathing such a hasty remark.
More of a joke, but a corny one at that. Welcome to FV.
Mr. Hidden,
I suggest you should know GabbyD, or anyone else, before you judge him. And, most important of all, first, you should read the comment, second, analyse it, and third, understand it, before you react to it.
Anyway, my personal welcome to you for coming to FV, our wonderful battleground for venting our ideas. I think you’ll like it here. Please pardon my unsolicited advice, nothing personal on it.
hindi po ba kayo nagbabasa ng diaryo?
I think we should not fall to the trap that EDSA is our total messiah and will save us from all our individual and collective misery. It opened the door for us to lead our lives, to choose what will make this nation a great one and most importantly to hand over to us our democracy in order that we can gain that immense power to think for ourselves and choose our leaders. It never promised us paradise, it only promised us that we can now have the power to choose paradise and unfortunately, have the same power to choose damnation.
“. . . love and respect for country and others as one loves and respects oneself. At the core, is this not what democracy is about?“
No, that is only a small part of democracy. The larger part is doing something good for the country because that love means so much. Soldiers, business people, honest laborers . . . housewives, scientists, John Glenn, the unknown soldier, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Abraham Lincoln. My great grandfather, my father, my buddies who died in Viet Nam, or returned, never the same.
I’m sorry I don’t know Philippine history better.
Edsa was a flirtation with greatness, I think . . .
Joe
EDSA was a Manila-centered event, with many Filipinos in rural areas been left out. EDSA lacks the true reform of what was needed to be done. The Church and the military were credited for leading but during the process of transitioning from one power to the next was an inner passion and hopeful desire of an individual lost and exploited by the rich and powerful few.
Today, many have moved on just like a mature adult. It’s great to hold on to memories, but we can’t live in the past. Our future is the most important. To learn is to demand but not to march again on a one way street. Some voices deserve to be heard equally. Connect the islands and make the people equal from one another but please don’t drag the whole country behind.
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Grow UP Noynoy..
Actually, it’s young people who tend not to respect and remember EDSA. If u had lived under the Marcos dictatorship, u wouldn’t take the gains of EDSA for granted. I was a young girl during martial law, but I remember it vividly.
Many young people tend to take a lot for granted — the right of people of color and women to vote in the US; the fact that rape is no longer considered to be a crime against chastity in the Philippines, to name just two examples — all the while forgetting what earlier generations had to go through to get to where we r today. Marcos was an absolute dictator and it took a lot of guts to go against him. Those at EDSA, the Cory, the “heroes” and all the ordinary people protesting in the streets, deserve far more credit than u accord them. Generally, it’s brats who’ve never had to fight for anything significant (and I don’t mean a job or a boyfriend here) in their lives who tend to make such insensitive and shallow statements.
Here is another February event — Manila Bay — to be remembered.
SuperFerry14 : On 02/28/2004 at about 00:50, two hours after departure from Manila harbor, during an overnight journey from Manila to Bacolod, an explosion ripped through the a luxury Superferry 14, with 899 people on board, in Manila Bay near Bataan Island in the Philippines. The explosion caused blazes and the sinking of the 10,000 ton ferry. The attack became the ever most deadly single terror attack in the country.
In my humble opinion, EDSA was not a revolution but an accident that solidified into a force so strong as to throw Marcos out. Unlike true revolutions that have clear demands for change and take time to execute, EDSA was almost spontaneous, and the men and women who came were bonded solely by one common desire – get rid of Marcos. Even the traditional politicians that afterwards arrogated the power and leadership did not know what to do next, one foot was on a revolutionary government, the other foot on a republic. In fact, the basis for installing Cory was nebulous. The claim was she actually won over Marcos in the last elections. If that were so, it would have been necessary for COMELEC to make the declaration, but there was no more COMELEC. An act of the revolution could have been the correct legal basis for installing Cory as president but Cory did not pursue a revolutionary government and refused to issue decrees. If she followed the right course, i.e., that she was the head of a revolutinary government, it would have been necessary to call a general elections to organize a new government. But Cory did not and after taking an oath she assumed office as a successor president and appointed officials to run the government. No one questioned the transition and everyone considered Cory as the legitimate president. If a general election was called it would have been the opportunity to elevate publicly the issues that were not properly articulated and addressed during EDSA. And I think this was the failure – the lack of clear understanding of what the people really aspired for after EDSA. This is what happens when leaders are unfamiliar with history. She could have adopted what Aguinaldo did. He started with a revolutionary government, then proclaimed himself a dictator, and finally called an election to organize a republic. In short, while EDSA was successful in providing the opportunity for change Cory was a dismal failure of leadership.
question: what do you mean by “clear demands”?
even if its true that the one common desire is to get rid of Marcos, why is this NOT a “clear demand”?
if it is a clear demand, then the difference would only be “time to execute”
why is longer time BETTER than a shorter time? isnt quicker better? isnt a bloodless revolution an achievement (vs almost 100% of all revolutions that were bloody?)?
i dunno — sometimes i think james fallows is right. if there is evidence of damaged/dysfunctional nationalism, this is it. we cant celebrate the good things in our country without having to always pummel it with the bad stuff.
there is always good and bad stuff in history. sometimes they happen at the same time! the goal should be to appreciate the good and learn from the bad.
but there seems to be people who want to throw everything into the trashcan of failed ideas.
Let me recall the 1896 revolution to cite an example of “clear demands”: the Katipunan formalized its objectives with a formal statement of 13 principles, too long to list down here, and admonished each member to: “Preach and follow these doctrines and when the Sun of Liberty rises in the midst of these unhappy Islands and with her splendor sheds everlasting happiness upon these united children and brothers of the same race, the lives of those who are gone and the pains and tribulations we have suffered shall be well recompensed.” (see Maximo Kalaw) I with my friends went to EDSA to heed the call of Cardinal Sin to protect Enrile and Ramos. Getting rid of Marcos simply evolved because the opportunity to do it arose by the progressive turn of events, but that was not the initial objective. I have no intention of throwing EDSA to the trash can. I love the glory that was EDSA and continue to cherish its memory, at the same time very sad that we squandered the opportunity it handed to us.
February event:
Proclamation No. 1017 (S.O.N.E.):
State of National Emergency declaration…
GMA, talsik diyan!!! Good thing that neither Trillanes, not Honasan, not “surge-the-gate” folks and not GMA herself has tossed the 1987 Constitution into the trash to be replaced by something more palatable to somebody’s personal ambitions. May/June/July2010, Pilipinas follows the constitutional script and the world can look approvingly at Pilipinas performing a peaceful transition of presidential power.
GMA talsik diyan!!!
We have a distorted view of ourselves. As we cling to EDSAs. Marcos
is long gone. Time to unite and build the nation. Instead of dividing
the nation.
I never participated in EDSA People Power ’86 nor believe in it. Two words for those who participated and believe in it ‘TRUTH COMMISSION’.
macapili, i truly agree with you re true status of cory’s presidency. in the context of the true definition of “legitimacy”, cory was the genuine ILLEGITIMATE president, not PGMA. but only people with clear understanding of the “rule of law” would appreciate that.
now noynoy wants to paint the edsa celebration yellow clearly trying to “own” it. the gall!
mr b,
which part of EDSA history did you not understand? marcos clearly cheated during the elections, cory’s legitimacy in assuming power was confirmed by the philippine supreme court, never mind the filipino public and world opinion. and so you’re saying Marcos’ and GMA’s cheating during the elections were excusable paths to power and abuse? the ‘rule of law’?!? in some spooky way, i feel like i’m seeing arturo tolentino here.
The confirmation by the Philippine supreme court did not legitimize Cory as president because all functionaries of government were invalidated after EDSA. Cory was a legitimate “dictator” installed by the revolution. So, she should have ruled initially under a revolutionary government and caused a transition to a democracy through a general elections.
dragon, fyi, neither marcos’ nor gma’s alleged “cheating” was proven and adjudicated by an appropriate tribunal in accordance with the due process of the law. therefore, the “rule of law” dictates that they are NOT illegitimate, regardless of how you feel about it.
gabby and bert, i acknowledge your reactions and you are right. gabby’s short comment just caught me by surprise. the EDSA revolutions, running a country and the elections are no simple matters that we can encapsulate into a few soundbites. at this age and level of cynicism, i have learned to subscribe to a middle ground but a time like this seems to call for radical but peaceful mass movement.
again, we’ve been pushed to the edge and again, we have this opportunity to instigate change in our system an as importantly, in our national consciousness. what are we going to do with this?
There’s a good man! What are we going to do about this mess? Well, I’m with you with that radical and peaceful mass movement anytime. But, where before I were all heart and body with the “surge-the-gates” movement, I’m now a convert to the “wait-for-2010 election” and the “move on” crowd due to the very close proximity of that election. I guess there’s nothing much we can do now but to prepare for it and make our own personal choice. I believe that there is no other choice for us but to go for the least evil, then hope for the best, though some of us would rather go for the more evil hoping that the evil would eventually see the light.
In 1983 the most serious financial crisis hit the country. Marcos probably due to his arrogance and ill health failed to assure continuity of his dynasty. He put to much faith in his U.S. trained technocrats.
The many who struggle against him from the start were critical in galvanizing the opposition to him. In the end it became simply a changing of the guard in the Palace. Nothing much has changed. What has changed however is the almost complete domination of the Washington Consensus.
The almost complete surrender of fiscal and monetary autonomy
to foreign authority.
International economic integration requires the surrender of economic and political authority to global authority.
The European community toady is faced with with the choice of disintegration of their common market and common currency unless they move to go under a European political authority.
The Philippines still is far away form having an integrated economic base which is reflected in the weak state. I read an idiots musings that the country is ready for economic takeoff. The country must first construct an effective state. The missing ingredient in the Philippine scene.
Look at what happened to Edsa I. Cory Aquino gave the management of the South Harbor then to her Uncles company. Then she gutted the intent of a genuine agrarian reform program.
Does your “effective state” equate to the supremacy of the rule of law?
If we are to read the now classic essay by North and Weingast in which they show how institutional innovations accompanying the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688 created pre-conditions for secure property rights and the rule of law–to correct the arbitrary use of coercive power by the Crown that preceded it–then we might not be too hasty in passing judgement on our currently dismal situation.
There is no inevitability implied in my previous assertion that we could be on the cusp of something new. What the current milieu signals however is the possibility to move past the current situation having learnt important lessons from the EDSA sequels.
Namely that under Erap the elite recognised the importance of rules based governance in the economy to avoid the dissipation of their wealth through insider trading wreaking havoc on the stock market and shady takeover deals of large corporate interests. And that having seen the complications and consequences of ousting Erap, the activist NGO and business community–a key feature of our politics after EDSA I– realised the importance of according due process in the political sphere. These twin lessons leading to a demand for rule of law among the elite may eventually lead to a state more autonomous in encouraging long-term growth.
Looking at the Philippines through anglo saxon eyes wherein the enlightenment philosophers theorized on the heart of classical economic theory. –labor theory of value.
But that was when most of the world was still agrarian and the complexities of the specialized division of labor had not yet occurred. The industrial revolution changed all that. Governments then reacted to that massive societal change as the working classes demanded more to the surplus value created.
The role of modern governments thus changed during the 18th and 19th century that propelled the Western Europe and eventually the U.S. founded on the bedrock principles built around Lockian property rights. The deep foundations of this system is built on a tolerable system of justice. That is how trust is embedded in institutions of the state and not in persons. Commerce and industry cannot prosper in a state where trust is missing in interactions between men. Hence filial relations rule and not a system of laws.
Just look at the Aquino and Arroyo families. We are choosing between persons who we trust to promote our self interest. So the Aquino badge or Arroyo badge becomes our amulet. It is primordially tribal.
How then can you have a discussion about fiscal and monetary policy when this presupposes a working effective state that can defend itself in its primary function.
Right after the American revolution the federal government went to war against its own citizens to insure the proper collections of taxes. The Whiskey tax.
The state of the Philippine state can be best measured by the question—- Who is afraid of the tax man?
Prices of goods and services are principally based on the labor theory of value.
The country still does not have a culture of engineering, mathematics and science. Religion and superstition still prevails.
Look at the entire Presidential slate.