密歇根新闻广播 不断老去的政治家们

As you might expect, I spend a good deal of time talking to people about politics, at least if I can manage to get them not to run away.

And I've noticed something remarkable¹ this year. If I can badly abuse William Butler Yeats, the worst may be filled with passionate² intensity³, but the best are largely frustrated⁴ and bored out of their skulls⁵. Here's something to think about.

When President Obama completes his term in office a year from January, we'll have had three presidents in a row who each served a full eight years in office. Do you know the last time in history that happened?

The answer is that it never has. This has been the longest sustained period of political continuity in American history. Compare this to a few decades ago. President Kennedy was assassinated⁶; Lyndon Johnson essentially⁷ driven from the White House; Richard Nixon quit to avoid being thrown out, and the next two men defeated when they ran for reelection.

Things have been, if anything, even more boringly stable in Michigan. Governor Snyder, like his predecessor⁸, will have served eight years in office. The three previous governors served 12 years, eight years, and 14 years. We're not in an era of rapid personnel change.

Add to this the fact that our politics, both state and national, have come to resemble something like the static trench⁹ warfare¹⁰ of World War I. In Michigan, the legislature is so gerrymandered that there's no true two-party competition for more than eighty percent of the seats. The parties are so polarized meaningful collaboration¹¹ has proven virtually impossible.

When it comes to Presidential politics, eighty percent of the states are considered safely “red,” or Republican, or "blue" Democratic. Those colors have no ideological¹² meaning; they come from the colors the TV networks use on Election Night to designate which party's candidate has won a state. We live, of course, in a world where politics have been ruled by television.

We also are living in an era where our leaders are far older than they used to be. I just finished writing a book with Former Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley. When he was appointed to that job in 1961, he had just turned 37 years old. The governor of Michigan was 36; the mayor of Detroit 33, and the President of the United States 44.

Today, the three leading candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination¹³ will be 69, 74 and 75 years old next year; the leading Republican candidate will be 70. Biological age, however, may be less important than fossilized thought. When the current political cycle began, we were told by the talking heads that we were headed for an election between two candidates who seemed like incumbents¹⁴: Hillary Clinton, the wife of one former president, a woman who has been in prominent positions and continuously on the scene for a quarter of a century, and Jeb Bush, the son of one president and the brother of another.

Instead, the voters are flocking to Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump¹⁵. Some are angry, some hopeful, but it's pretty clear they are deeply frustrated and long for something different. It will be interesting to see when and if this carries over into state politics as well.

Jack¹⁶ Lessenberry is Michigan Radio's political analyst¹⁷. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

2 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

3 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

4 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 skulls   

颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜

参考例句：

• One of the women's skulls found exceeds in capacity that of the average man of today. 现已发现的女性颅骨中，其中有一个的脑容量超过了今天的普通男子。
• We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight! 我们便能令月光下的平原变白，遍布白色的骷髅！

6 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

9 trench   

n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕

参考例句：

• The soldiers recaptured their trench.兵士夺回了战壕。
• The troops received orders to trench the outpost.部队接到命令在前哨周围筑壕加强防卫。

10 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

11 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

12 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

13 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

14 incumbents   

教区牧师( incumbent的名词复数 )； 教会中的任职者

参考例句：

• In general, incumbents have a 94 percent chance of being reelected. 通常现任官员有94%的几率会再次当选。
• This arangement yields a wonderful gain to incumbents. 这种安排为在职人员提供了意外的得益。

15 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

16 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

17 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。