A Hand Grenade From William Galston At TNR

William Galston at TNR, in a post titled "It's The Ideology, Stupid", ponders exit poll data from 2006 and 2008 (skipping past the Presidential boost to turnout) and delivers a cold dose of reality to the reality-based community.  A snippet:

So the 2010 electorate does not represent a disproportional mobilization of conservatives: If the 2010 electorate had perfectly reflected the voting-age population, it would actually have been a bit more conservative and less moderate than was the population that showed up at the polls.

Geez, the Dems were net beneficiaries of their Get Out The Vote effort?  That was a subtle effect.

Mr. Galson also rocks another emerging meme about how the (utterly predictable) decline in the youth vote hurt the Dems:

What about age? The conventional wisdom before November 2 was that seniors enraged or terrified by changes in Medicare would turn out in droves to punish those who voted for health reform while young people disillusioned by Obama’s failure to create the New Jerusalem would abstain. That did happen, but only to a modest degree. Voters of ages 18-29 constituted 12 percent of the electorate in 2006; 11 percent in 2010. Voters over 65 were 19 percent of the total in 2006; 23 percent in 2010—noticeable but hardly decisive. If 65 and overs had constituted the same share of the electorate in 2010 as in 2006, the Republicans’ share would have declined by only .7 percent—about one-tenth of their actual gains.

George Will strikes similar notes in "A recoil against liberalism".

I imagine Dem activists and their media enablers will promptly scuttle back to what they imagine are the truly pressing topics.  I look forward to their fiery internal debates on who is more frightening, Sarah Palin or Christine O'Donnell.

Comments

[Clarice]

whew! I'm sure their headlines are along the line of It's Safe Again to Masturbate..

[Neo]

the “vestigial racism” excuse

I said give it 48 hours and this election would all be about racism.

[BobDenver]

Wow, Neo, just wow. Dylan was never Dylan after the motorcycle accident any more than Elvis was Elvis after the Army . . . . It will be the same way for the president.

If we need musical analogies to measure what magical qualities Obama has lost, I suggest we go with this:

Q: What did one Deadhead say to the other Deadhead after the dope ran out?

A: Hey man, this band SUCKS!

[Chubby]

((I look forward to their fiery internal debates on who is more frightening, Sarah Palin or Christine O'Donnell.))

answer: Michele Bachmann

[jorgxmckie]

Obdurately, oblivious ignorance in the face of Reality is not pretty.

[hit and run]

Galston from the article::
This year, projections indicate that the Republicans will end up with 51.8 percent [of all votes for House candidates], versus 45.1 percent for the Democrats

I did the Senate and Governors totals over in some old thread -- but said no way was I doing the House because I had to manually add up individual races. Thanks,Galston!

[Chubby]

((I said give it 48 hours and this election would all be about racism))

they're mad as heck that their peecee idea of his race being teflon didn't work out according to plan

[Neo]

Take a little time to appreciate the smaller victories ...

Kanjorski (D-Pa.) is Finance Chairman Barney Frank’s top deputy on the committee, but that will all change in January when the Republican majority takes over.

After surviving two previous challenges, Kanjorski succumbed Tuesday to challenger Louis Barletta, a mayor in the 13-term congressman’s district in the northeast part of the state.

My mother made us promise that we would not use "succumbed" in her obit, so the it's choice here makes this even more delicious.

[Neo]

Dylan was never Dylan after the motorcycle accident

And here, I always thought that it was when Dylan "went electric" at Newport Folk Festival on Sunday July 25, 1965 that made Dylan not Dylan any more.

[Porchlight]

My favorite Dylan work is from after the accident, actually (Basement Tapes era).

[Captain Hate]

Dylan was never Dylan after the motorcycle accident

What a dumbass thing to say and the mark of a third-rate thinker at best. Dylan was an artist who refused to be pinned down; just like Neo pointed out with those "folkie" codgers and Stalin apologists who all belong in a museum of idiots.

[Captain Hate]

Rather I should have said Dylan *is* an artist who refuses to be pinned down and would be amused at the simpleton's statement and think that he never understood him and his work all along.

Yes, Porch; the Basement Tapes (the complete ones that you can find at download sites for free) are the schizz. As are John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Blood on the Tracks.....

[Porchlight]

Neo,

From a smart commenter at Hot Air today:

Some delicious stories in American Banker today about how Republicans are going to attack the Dodd-Frank disaster too. This may have more of an impact on the economy between now and 2012 than stopping ObamaCare. There were eleven Democrats on the Financial Services Committee who lost, including #2 Democrat Paul Kanjorski. (I guess 12 if you count Melissa Bean.) Most of any committee in the House.

Believe it or not, Maxine Waters is now the #2 Democrat on this Committee. And she’ll probably be indicted within the next 6 months. The hits are gonna keep on coming for these folks.

Watch out for Jeb Hensarling and Scott Garrett, they are going to be the point men on Fannie/Freddie legislation. They are whip-smart and know this stuff backwards and forwards.

rockmom on November 4, 2010 at 12:17 PM

[Porchlight]

Cap'n,

My husband got to visit Big Pink a couple years ago. It was actually a minor internet miracle - his band was driving through the area and got the idea to try to find the place. So my husband called me and I quickly googled and found someone's "Pilgrimage to Big Pink" blog complete with directions to the house from the highway. They found the place and the owners were home and gave them the grand tour. The owners are musicians, too, unsuprisingly, so there was the customary CD exchange at the end. My husband has the pic he took of himself (Nashville Skyline cover photo style, with the camera angle from below) in front of the house as his Facebook photo.

He said the basement is really, really small, much smaller than he'd imagined.

[macphisto]

that statement would almost have made sense if he'd said:

Dylan wasn't "Dylan" after the motorcycle accident...

[Captain Hate]

Porch, it's around the Catskills, right? Nevermind I just googled it and it's close to where my elder Hatette spent a year at Bard College. I've heard that it's really tiny from somebody else that's been there. Lots of places where famous recordings have been made are very small.

[Neo]

In 2008, Democrats ran as Not George Bush. In 2010, they ran as Democrats. Hence, inescapably, as liberals, or at least as obedient to liberal leaders. Hence Democrats' difficulties.

George Will is especially good today.

[Frau Nebenan]

"the oils of anointment are off of him."
omg - the Lightbringer?

[Jack is Back!]

Is this the headline you would want for your Presidency?

[Danube of Thought]

Is the Dylan quote from the Galston article?

I've always felt that Elvis never did anything good after Col. Tom Parker got ahold of him.

[Danube of Thought]

"Lots of places where famous recordings have been made are very small."

E.g. That little Sun studio where Elvis cut That's Allright, Mama.

[glasater]

It's not the perfect analogy of course but (forgive me for this) I never did think George Carlin was as funny when he got off drugs...

And to dredge up another oldie--the youth vote for O--college age kids--will have been mugged by reality--if not now--certainly in another two years.

[Captain Hate]

Lots of other Sun artists there too, DoT; the Killer, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins....

The studios on Hackensack, NJ where Rudy van Gelder recorded Blue Note classics was small also.

[Captain Hate]

*in* Hackensack

[Jack is Back!]

...and then you have that little town house in St. John's Wood, London, on Abbey Road....

[BR]

There should be a national outcry against Obama's expensive trip to India.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--I've always felt that Elvis never did anything good after Col. Tom Parker got ahold of him.--

That doesn't leave much else. Not even Mess of Blues.

[glasater]

From Neo's Esquire link:

The man acclaimed as the most gifted communicator of our age had to be prodded into admitting "it feels bad," and after nearly an hour of prolix boilerplate offered but one takeaway line, "The Slurpee is a delicious drink,"

When O was on the Jon Stewart show and the "Summer's done a heckava job" comment. Stewart's "dud" response..

And then Obama's quick rejoinder was "pun intended"!!

Excuse me while I'm underwhelmed with O's scintillating wit...and intellectual skills.

[lyle]

"I look forward to their fiery internal debates on who is more frightening the nastiest bitch, Sarah Palin or Christine O'Donnell Barney Frank or Andrew Sullivan."

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Extraneus]

If anyone missed Glenn Beck's gloating tour de force from yesterday, it might be worth a few minutes of your time.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--The man acclaimed as the most gifted communicator of our age--

Ronaldus Magnus died in 2004. Was that a different age or are they saying the stick with ears is a better communicator?

[Jack is Back!]

Iggy,

There is only one Reagan - Obama is an impostor - ever see or hear of Reagan using a teleprompter? I was in DC for his last 2 years as POTUS and attended a number of events in which he spoke - a true master of conversational speaking and speaking that taught, reminded and left you smiling but smarter. Don't see this clown even close to that.

[Annie Oakley]

The current Emperor has no clothes!

Young voters have a short attention span, especially if they're unemployed, and "cool" is very, very short-lived and then they're on to the next new thing!

[DebinNC]

Michael Barone: "In 2008, Barack Obama and congressional Democrats won with a top-and-bottom coalition, carrying voters with incomes over $200,000 and under $50,000, while losing those in between. In 2010, that coalition has contracted. Turnout among low-income voters was down, while Democratic support among the affluent seems confined to those on public sector and university payrolls."

That explains why Obama, Pelosi, and every other Dem who survived is now repeating "help the middle class" at every opportunity.

[Walter]

BobDenver,

I get the joke, but I had a good friend in the Wharf Rats. I'd see an entirely different side to the band when I went to shows with her. FWIW, the Dead actually sponsored the group by giving them space for meetings during intermission and tour passes for group leaders.

[JimL]

Check out the comments on Galston's article at the TNR website. Short version: the voters are stupid. I suppose the dawning of the new era of enlightenment and tolerance which began in 2008 was thwarted by the fear and ignorance spread by Palin and O'Donnell with the help of billions (per Biden)in foreign and corporate dollars. Lets hope they stick with this narrative.

[daddy]

TNR should not comment on Bob Dylan without having ever listened to him.

[BobDenver]

Sorry this is OT, but I never let November 4th go by without remembering the Iranian seizure of sovereign U.S. territory, when they invaded our embassy on 11/4/79 and took the embassy staff hostage.

And the United States did nothing. An utter humiliation, thanks to Jimmy Carter.

[Captain Hate]

Oh come on, BobDenver; we crashed helicopters in the desert as an effective summary of the 4 long years of James Earl Carter's occupancy of the White House. Even BOzo's an improvement over that.

Btw I wonder if that imbecile who said we were wrong about the events from 1977-80 is still butthurt from our responses.

[MarkO]

All you Dylan fans do know, of course, that he "borrowed" "Blowin' in the Wind" and many of his other songs?

[bunkerbuster]

Let's project George Will 2 years forward:

In 2010, Republicans ran as Not Barack Obama. In 2012, they ran as Republicans. Hence, inescapably, as conservatives, or at least as obedient to conservative leaders. Hence Republicans' difficulties.

Not only Americans, but people in every wealthy democracy, have been divided along a right and left axis forever and always will be. What moves is the center.

The age of Reagan media -- the corporate concentration of mass media ownership -- bumped the center to the right. The age of Bush's failures -- two unwon wars and a financial collapse -- bumped it to the left.

As a liberal, I'm quite happy to see the demise of the blue dog Democrats. They got what they bargained for. From here, it will be possible for Democrats to offer a more clearly defined alternative to conservative borrow-and-war economics and utopian anti-tax social policy.
Slice the exit polls however you like but the statistic that matters more than any is that less than half of people voted. That leaves way too many undecided voters for either side to declare any kind of permanent victory.

Jack: are you blind, or just spun like a top?
Slideshow of Reagan with teleprompters is here: ``http://s332.photobucket.com/albums/m335/dmhlt48/Teleprompter%20-%20Reagan/?action=view&current=2102fb6a.pbw

[daddy]

Can anybody tell me, at 200 Million dollars a day, and at way, way more than that in security costs, military alert costs, police costs etc, and with the disruption to downtown Bombay, it's waterfront, and to the airport, what the hell is the point of this fiasco?

I can't figure it out.

[DebinNC]

Ronald Reagan was elected 30 yrs. ago today.

[NK]

Capt--

I admit BHO is less incompetent than Jimmah (not a high standard BTW), but BHO is worse because he is a left-wing ideologue.

[Danube of Thought]

Is the net gain still 63? I'm seeing that there are ten house races still undecided...

Interesting that the Dems got rebuked even more savagely than the GOP in the first post-Watergate election. Genuinely epic fail.

[BobDenver]

I submit that the true tests of BHO's incompetence are yet to come, and I will bet you all a nickel that he surpasses Carter on the downside.

A nickel each, I mean.

[MarkO]

I loved Elvis. All things Elvis. I tried to wear my hair like Elvis. I'm still facinated by his electric charm, even in old DVD clims from the comeback special. He really did have that "thing" that only the Beatles have had since then.

Col. Parker picked up Elvis in 1955 and took one-half of his income. That's right, boys and girls, one-half.

He wasn't the only one. I had a small part in some litigation after Elvis died and learned that RCA owed him a small fortune in back royalties. Make that a large fortune. There's nothing like entertainment accounting.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--Can anybody tell me, at 200 Million dollars a day--

I can't even figure out the $200 million per day unless that includes the Naval contingent, which was pretty much going to be steaming around somewhere anyway.

[Clarice]

James Taranto does the hard work of naming the stupidest prognosticators..not that the MSM will not keep citing their bright thoughts in the future.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594430240937908.html?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb_h> dumbbells talk, msm keep listening

[NK]

BobD-

you may be proven right (God I hope not) but it would take cataclysmic failures. Something like vetoing bipartisan cuts and causing the Fed Deficit to go to $2 trillion, something truly horrible. remember, Carter caved to the Mullahs AND almost gave the world to the Soviets. That is tough to top on the incompetence scale.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--Hence Republicans' difficulties.--

Difference is you're hoping the Repubs have difficulties in 2012 whereas we know the Dems are in the soup now.

[bgates]

Democratic support among the affluent seems confined to those on public sector and university payrolls.

Imagine how incomprehensible that sentence would have been even 15 years ago. The demographic of wealthy government employees should amount to about a thousand people across the country, not something that can swing a statewide election.

[bgates]

what the hell is the point of this fiasco?

I guess he wants to threaten India, though to what end I don't know.

[BobDenver]

Those were dark days, NK.

[SDN]

I look forward to their fiery internal debates on who is more frightening, Sarah Palin or Christine O'Donnell.

No need to go to Kos for that; between Hot Air and Ace of Spades you'll get all you can handle.

[matt]

is that 200 million pre-QE or post QE dollars daddy?

am still having a hard time figuring out how it could end up being so high and am, frankly skeptical.Even with all the hoop te doo and the 7th Fleet in town for Mubai Fleet Week and dueling AF-1's and herding all the cattle outside of the city and clearing it of beggars and dirt that is still way too many rupees even if his nibs gets the Maharajah Suite at the Taj Mahal.

Maybe the state dinner will be like that scene in "Indiana Jones and the Incredibly Improbable Plot" where they were offered "delicacies" fit for a nabob.Or maybe it includes a massed welcome by your crazy cricket cheerleaders.

[DebinNC]

I can't figure it out

Wash Examiner: “He (Obama) specifically wanted to have an opportunity to celebrate Diwali and to do so with the Indian people, getting beyond simply his official business,” Jeff Bader, Senior Director for Asia Affairs at the National Security Council, White House, said.

[Danube of Thought]

The stuff about 34 warships is total nonsense.

[JM Hanes]

Deb:

"That explains why Obama, Pelosi, and every other Dem who survived is now repeating "help the middle class" at every opportunity."

Pelosi, followed promptly by her doppelganger in the Senate, introduces the new improved storyline [Emphasis mine, natch. And Nancy's.]:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the midterm elections that delivered a Republican majority mean lawmakers must work together to support the middle class, create jobs and reduce the deficit.

She can't help herself though. She's still babbling on about the New Direction.

Meanwhile, just to prove that the left hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, Neal Gabler informs us that, "Republicans prove to be the masters of campaign clichés." He's only half right, of course.

I've got to admit, however, that there's one mantra on the right that drives me even crazier than the new middle class Dem drumbeat ever could. I was really, really, really looking forward to the post-election bliss of nevah, evah, hearing "Don't get cocky" again. Alas.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

I thought the dOne's reason for avoiding the Sikh shrine was proved his idiocy when he said people already think he's a Muslim. Huh? Does he really think the Sikhs are Muslim?

[BobDenver]

LOL, SDN!

[Clarice]

DoT--it is preposterous unless as I hinted last Sunday this is a stealth invasion or a self-imposed exile.

[matt]

one reason he's going is to try and seal the deal on a large fighter order that we really need at this point. This will piss of the Pakistanis to no end as well as the Chinese.

Sarkozy was just in China closing a bunch of deals there yesterday. These days it's part of the job. One of the very few things I liked about Ron Brown before he augured into a Bosnian hillside was that he was the first Commerce Secretary who actually got out there and sold American industry the way the Euros do so successfully.

As the Chinese extend their hegemony, India is the power that is supposed to offset them. In addition, they are already a major trading partner with significant potential.

If Toonces was smart, he would visit everybody's shrine and wear a dhoti at Gandhi's house and sing kumbaya.Instead, he'll probably just lecture them on how their call centers are stealing green jobs in America.

"This is Rajneesh from Dell. Is your computer turned on?"

[JM Hanes]

daddy:

I suspect the $200 million and the 34 "warships" come straight out of the "too good to check" rumor factory, no matter where they were printed. I'm sure "cleansing" and closing down Mumbai, and dragging a Louis XIVth worthy entourage along isn't cheap, but it's simply a testament to emblematic Obama excesses that it's actually getting any traction.

[Clarice]

Renee Elmer's desperately needs money to fight off the theft of her election victory in court by Etheridge.

[bgates]

I was really, really, really looking forward to the post-election bliss of nevah, evah, hearing "Don't get cocky" again.

But if we get cocky, they'll get inside our OODA loop. Then the voters will throw us under the bus. I. Am. So. Not. Wanting. That. Let me be perfectly clear: it's all about the voters.

[Clarice]

The WH is denying the $200 million figure, but I'd like to see some details from them, and an accounting not prepared by Geithner who apparently gets his plans from John Stewart, according to a story today of their meeting to discuss economic policy.

How much did Michelle's Mambo to Marbella cost?

[No Lips is full of quips]

"It is amazing the ingenuity Democrats invest in concocting explanations of voter behavior that erase what voters always care about, and this year more than ever - ideas. This election was a nationwide recoil against Barack Obama's idea of unlimited government."

There's the rub, Georgie Porgie. You confuse YOUR perception with the public perception.

All this rage is pumped by foreign, opaque dollars, and blatant dollars from Corporate America creating fictitious and manipulative stories, which are then stoked on the airwaves.

The energy (physical, grassroots energy, not money) is;

Angry Old white folks dismayed at their emerging minority status.

'They' want their Country back. I can't really blame them. I can't help the co's who built surreys and covered wagons recover their market share, either.

[Danube of Thought]

As a point of reference, a carrier strike group typically consists of ten ships. As far as I can tell, this stuff began in the Indian press.

[bunkerbuster]

lol... Obama's bringing top executives from a range of companies like Sikorsky, GE, Westinghouse and so on to India to play a round of "give us massive government nuclear power and military contracts." And you people say he's a communist. Hilarious...

[Bulletheads Forevah !]

Taranto;

"The head of this bloc is DeMint's fellow South Carolinian, Lindsey Graham, who says: "If you think what happened in Delaware is 'a win' for the Republican Party then we don't have a snowball's chance to win the White House. If you think Delaware was a wake-up call for Republicans then we have shot at doing well for a long time."

Trent Lott, the former Senate majority leader, agrees:

Had Republicans run Castle in Delaware and establishment favorites Sue Lowden in Nevada and Jane Norton in Colorado, Lott said, Tuesday would have turned out different.

"With those three we would have won and been sitting at 50 [senators]," he observed.

Bah! Compromise. Blech!

[DebinNC]

Lots">http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/bushvisit06gal1.html">Lots of pics of GWB and Laura's trip to India in 2006. ::sniff:: Where's my hanky?

[Danube of Thought]

"And you people say he's a communist."

Not me. I say he's a poorly-educated ignoramus and an abject failure, in way over his head.

[bunky]

Brownsville Girl

[bgates]

He (Obama) specifically wanted to have an opportunity to celebrate Diwali

Wow, is tomorrow Diwali already? Seems like just yesterday it was Dhan Teras.

(This post brought to you by iloveindia.com, which shows that I've been a lot more multicultural in my celebrating than I knew.)

[Self-Awareness, much?]

"I say he's a poorly-educated ignoramus and an abject failure, in way over his head."

As opposed, say, to GWB, the Yalie with a mail-order degree.

[matt]

at least we know Bush's grades.

[Rob Crawford]

Fuck off and die, 'cleo.

[BobDenver]

Somebody earlier posted that we only have 3 fully operational carrier groups. That sounds low. Can you clarify?

[Janet]

He (Obama) specifically wanted to have an opportunity to celebrate Diwali

from wiki - "During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends."

Maybe MO wanted to celebrate Diwali.

[Self-Awareness, much?]

It's unfortunate that your distaste for History leaves you nothing but constipation as you muse over your former Presidunce, CornCob.

[Rob Crawford]

Somebody earlier posted that we only have 3 fully operational carrier groups. That sounds low. Can you clarify?

I think that's 3 at sea at one time.

[Rob Crawford]

It takes more brains to fly a jet -- which Bush did quite competently -- than it does to swivel your head side to side reading a teleprompter.

And you're still ashamed to use your regular name? Why? Why are you such a coward? Does your imaginary son know what a whiny little coward you are?

[DebinNC]

Trying again: Lots of pics of George and Laura Bush India visit 2006. I think he signed a US-India nuke deal while there.

[Cleo]

By lashing out at Bush, I make the terrible disappointment go away. Sometimes only vodka and percocet work, and they even make me have a brave Marine son for a couple of hours.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Bush = Yale degree, MBA from Harvard, an accomplished jet pilot, a former Governor, business owner, lots of training at the feet of a President (Reagan) plus growing up with an Ambassador to China, head of the CIA, VP and President. Compared to a man whose only claim to fame is a couple of affirmative action admits at colleges where his claim to fame was smoking dope and snorting coke, and putting cigs out on the carpet (and refusing to publish his grades because you know if they were any good, he'd shout them from the rooftops) and working as a "community organizer" for the CPA and other socialist groups on the south side of Chicago.

[Self-Awareness, much?]

Using 'whiny coward' in the same graf in which you describe GWB and his 'competent' piloting skills gets you a broad and deep,

BWAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[Clarice]

W're definitely going to attack Pakistan as candidate Obama threatened and turn it over to India in exchange for some contracts with GE.

[Jane]

what the hell is the point of this fiasco?

Michelle needs another vacation.

[Self-Awareness, much?]

"W're definitely going to attack Pakistan as candidate Obama threatened and turn it over to India in exchange for some contracts with GE."

.....and you have no problem with that, if you are consistent.

[Danube of Thought]

We have either ten or eleven carrier strike groups.

[Clarice]

Cleo, he threatened to do that as a candidate, a candidate YOU supported/

[Self-Awareness, much?]

Didn't YOU support Bush and his War of Choice?

At least be consistent. You are too old to change.

[Rob Crawford]

Now, Clarice, expecting the drooling feeb to remember -- or care -- what Obama said during a campaign is just Not Fair.

[Self-Awareness, much?]

"We have either ten or eleven carrier strike groups.(or eleventeen)"

You are smart, despite what your self-esteem implies.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

I don't support any war where the incompetent dOne is in charge as Commander-in-Chief, especially one who has no respect for the men and women who are putting their lives on the line nor those who are well-trained to lead them in battle.

[sbw]

Please don't feed the Cleo!

[Danube of Thought]

I'm pretty familiar with those strike groups. If you're really interested in whether it's ten or eleven, Google it.

George W. Bush was smart enough to get re-elected. How are we liking this moron's chances?

[sbw]

Lindsey Graham: ""If you think what happened in Delaware is 'a win' for the Republican Party then we don't have a snowball's chance to win the White House."

Any students of rhetoric want to parse the logic of this sentence for me? Bueller? Anyone?

Graham, you jackwagon!

[sbw]

Furthermore, I hardly consider Graham a reliable vote. A master of rationalization, has he ever found a principle he could 1) recognize, 2) understand, 3)embrace?