Mar Roxas for president and Noynoy Aquino for vice president, the Liberal Party proclaims. They’re confused about the cart and the horse.

I like the Liberal Party. It’s probably the only traditional political party left in the country that has a shred of, well, liberal thinking. (Which became so only later. Originally, the Nacionalista and Liberal parties were known only for what they were not: The Nacionalista Party was not nationalist and the Liberal Party was not liberal.)

And I like some of the people in that party, not least Mar. If Aug. 5 had not happened, I probably would have gone for him. In the past, I supported Jovito Salonga (1992) and Raul Roco (in 1998 and 2004) because I thought they ought to win, even though I didn’t think they would.

But Aug. 5 has happened. It’s one of those days now that, like Aug. 21 and Sept. 21, resonate with worlds of meanings by mere mention. Things have changed. Now we have a candidate who ought to win and can win as president.

That is Noynoy.

I will clarify the word “win” in a while because that too has a special meaning or significance, one that goes boldly where the concept of “winnable” has never gone before.

Mar-Noynoy is a dead weight for two monumental reasons.

The first is patent. Noynoy running for vice president won’t be enough fuel to rocket Mar to Malacañang. Or even Noynoy himself to the vice-presidency. People Power is non-transferable, except to Noynoy. That is so because of the storyline historical myth or mythical history has etched in the public (particularly the masa) psyche: Cory inherited the mantle when her husband died; Noynoy inherited the mantle when his mother died. Both by being thrust into a situation where they are commanded, like Frodo, like Arthur, or (particularly apt for Noynoy) like the Lion King who started out indulging hakuna matata, a worry-free philosophy, to fulfill their destiny.

People Power will probably not be there even for Noynoy if he runs for vice president. People Power is a heroic force that needs a heroic quest. The vice-presidency is not a heroic quest. Imagine the ticket being Hillary-Barack and you get a glimpse of the fall from “We shall overcome” to “We shall overweight.” Imagine the ticket being Doy-Cory, and you get a glimpse of the fall from the sublime to the paralytic.

Noynoy runs for vice president and he will mute People Power, choke People Power, scatter People Power. Noynoy runs for president and he will release People Power like a Genie.

The second reason is not as patent, or so it appears for most people, but needs to be harped on because its importance can never be exaggerated. That is: Can people really not appreciate, comprehend, or just plain see, what happened last Aug. 5?

That amid snow and rain and heat and gloom of night, or in our case amid storm and heat and tiredness and the grayness of day, the People came through like the US Postal Service? If you’re religious, you’re bound to say that was a miracle. If you’re not, you’re still bound to say that was a miracle. Either way, how can you not grasp the scale and vastness of it? To not do so—that is a spectacular failure of imagination. Or never mind imagination, a spectacular failure of sight.

The idea of harnessing all that power to prop up so trite, so mundane, so irrelevant a project as fielding Noynoy for vice president, there are no words to describe the silliness of it. Indeed, the idea itself of trying to fit the Genie into the matchbox of electoral politics, as we know it to be, or to shackle all that power with the fetters of traditional politics, well, there are words to describe the pettiness of it. The impression you get is people trying to contain a tornado in a nipa hut.

Quite simply, for those who do not like metaphors, or who cannot understand them, which is already a sign of lack of breadth of imagination, the point is that Noynoy, by virtue of the powers vested in him by Aug. 5, has been thrust into a stage bigger than the one the people around him want to put him in. The same stage Barack Obama occupied when he ran; the same stage Corazon Aquino occupied when she ran. Which was no longer for President but for Deliverance from the Resident Evil.

Noynoy will win—on a far bigger stage than is defined and confined by today’s elections. He runs and he will transform the contest from a choice between small women and smaller men to a choice between Good and Evil. From a choice between relative dwarves to a choice between Gulliver and Lilliput.

In fact, if he’s willing to go the distance, he can run outside of today’s political parties. What has he got to lose? Might as well hang for a sheep as for a lamb. The alternative is to be hounded by the eternal question, “What if?”, like the shrieking of the Furies. He can always run without a running mate, without a walking slate, without an inert baggage, as the People’s Choice, as the People’s President. People Power was resurrected by Cory’s death because of the purity of the cause. People Power will be kept alive by this because of the purity of the cause.

The tectonic plates of history have shifted. Why should you want to build your house on the gaping holes left behind? Or the old world has slipped by. Why should you want to look at life through a rear view mirror?

To the other “presidentiables”: If you are wise, if you are Doy-ic, if you are, well, liberal, you can always give way to Noynoy on pain of being swept aside by history. To the other political parties: If you can read the writing on the wall, you can always field him as your common presidential candidate on pain of being judged and found wanting.

It’s not just Noynoy God or history, Cory or the people, calls upon to sacrifice.

U2.