contrast to Peron's antagonistic, exclusionary style and discourse, opposing "the people" to its "enemies" (that is to say, those opposed to Peronism), Menem's is inclusionary and non-antagonistic: this alone would disqualify Menem as populist according to Laclau's (1977) definition. He does not appeal to an alleged popular interest. He referred constantly to the need to recover the dream of the host of immigrants who arrived on Argentine shores at the turn of the century: the recovery of that brilliant future that somehow had been left behind.