新闻周刊:拜登总统会否重蹈奥巴马的覆辙?(1)

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Can Joe Biden Succeed Where Barack Obama Failed?

拜登会重蹈奥巴马的覆辙吗？

BY DAVID SIROTA

作者：大卫·西罗塔

Twelve years after Joe Biden was sworn in as the vice¹ president of hope and change, hope is in short supply and the need for change is even more acute. Progressives have a rare opportunity to enact² their agenda—but they will need to play the kind of hardball they have backed away from in the past, because Biden continues to send conflicting messages. For every promise of transformational change, he signals a desire to appease³ a Republican Party intent on destroying his presidency⁴.

在乔·拜登宣誓就任副总统，宣誓为美国带来希望与变革的12年后，当今的美国希望紧缺，变革的需求更加迫切。进步人士想要借此难得的机会来制定他们的议程，但他们将需要手段强硬，因为拜登还在不断释放互相矛盾的信号，而他们已经放弃了过去的机会。拜登许下的每一个转型变革的承诺，都显示着他希望安抚意图摧毁自己总统任期的共和党。

The stakes could hardly be higher: One out of every thousand Americans has died from a lethal⁵ pandemic, with no end yet in sight. The economy is officially still humming along, but millions face eviction⁶, bankruptcy⁷ and hunger. Even U.S. democracy is under unprecedented⁸ siege by an insurrectionist movement encouraged by the outgoing president and his loyalists in Congress.

美国正处于极度危险的境地：每一千个美国人中就有一个死于致命的流行病，而且死亡增长还看不到尽头。官方称美国经济仍在蓬勃发展，但数百万人正面临驱逐、破产和饥饿。即使是美国的民主也受到了前所未有的围攻，这场国会叛乱运动受到了即将离任的总统及其忠实支持者的鼓励。

The path forward is difficult to envision amid the fog of culture war, political war and the threat of actual, real-life civil war. But it is clear that Biden is at a crossroad and still unsure which way to go. He can follow his boss, Barack Obama, who pursued bipartisanship, comity⁹ and compromise—accommodating corporate¹⁰ power. Or he can break toward the path of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who did battle with oligarchy¹¹, stood down fascism and welcomed the hatred¹² of the rich.

面临着文化战争、政治战争和现实生活中内战的威胁的重重迷雾，美国前进的道路难以想象。但很明显，拜登正处于十字路口，仍然不确定该走哪条路。他可以追随他的老板巴拉克·奥巴马的方式来控制政权，奥巴马曾追求两党合作、礼让和妥协。或者他可以向着富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福的道路前进，罗斯福曾与寡头政治作斗争，推翻了法西斯主义，并接受仇富。

One thing he cannot do is try to go in both directions. The lesson of the Obama administration is that you can have appeasement¹³ or transformative progress, but you almost certainly cannot have both.

拜登不能尝试向两个方向走。奥巴马政府的教训是，你可以推行绥靖或推行变革，但你几乎肯定不能两者兼得。

Obama won the 2008 campaign despite being falsely branded a foreign-born socialist¹⁴ bent¹⁵ on radical¹⁶ redistribution, and he assumed office in a similar cauldron of division and destitution¹⁷. America's psyche¹⁸ was battered¹⁹ by the Iraq War, and our economy was shredded²⁰ by a financial crisis that ruined millions of lives. It was his FDR moment—which he used not to forge a new deal that rebalanced the relationship between capital and labor²¹, but to prop²² up the status quo instead.

奥巴马赢得了2008年的竞选，尽管他被错误地贴上了一个外国出生的社会主义者的标签，致力于激进的再分配，他在类似的分裂和贫困的危及局势下就职。当时美国精神受到了伊拉克战争的重创，经济也被一场夺走了数百万人生命的金融危机摧毁。奥巴马那一刻仿佛化身罗斯福，他并没有制定一项重新平衡资本和劳动力关系的新政，而是维持现状。

He backed his predecessor's bank bailout program, but then terminated it in the name of deficit²³ reduction rather than redirect it to aid struggling homeowners.

奥巴马支持了前任总统小布什的银行救助计划，但随后以削减赤字的名义终止了这项计划，而没有变革该计划以援助陷入困境的房主。

He pushed a stimulus²⁴ bill, but one that was far too small, which ended up delivering one of American history's slowest economic recoveries.

奥巴马推动了一项刺激法案，但规模太小，最终实现了美国历史上最慢的一次经济复苏。

He promised a change from a Bush administration that had tried to privatize Social Security, but then formed his own commission to try to slash²⁵ the program.

奥巴马承诺改变小布什政府试图将社会保障私有化的做法，但随后成立了自己的委员会试图削减这一计划。

He championed a slightly more liberal version of Republican health care reform, but steered²⁶ clear of a more contentious²⁷ fight for a public health insurance option or Medicare for All.

奥巴马支持将共和党提出的医疗改革变得自由化一点，但避开了为公共医疗保险或全民医保而进行的更具争议性的斗争。

He touted²⁸ getting tough on Wall Street, but his administration refused to prosecute²⁹ bank executives, refused to force financial institutions to accept mortgage losses and refused to break up the biggest banks.

奥巴马吹嘘要对华尔街采取强硬措施，但他的政府拒绝起诉银行高管，拒绝强迫金融机构接受抵押贷款损失，拒绝分拆最大的银行。

And he effectively shielded the George W. Bush administration from any systematic³⁰ investigation³¹ into its Iraq War lies and its lawless torture regime, out of "a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards³²."

他还有效地保护了小布什政府，使小布什免受有关伊拉克战争谎言和非法酷刑制度的任何系统调查，因为他“相信我们需要向前看，而不是向后看”

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

3 appease   

v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足

参考例句：

• He tried to appease the crying child by giving him candy.他试图给那个啼哭的孩子糖果使他不哭。
• The government tried to appease discontented workers.政府试图安抚不满的工人们。

4 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

5 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

6 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

7 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

9 comity   

n.礼让，礼仪；团结，联合

参考例句：

• Sometimes comity is regarded as a stimulus to the pattern of behaviour.礼让有时被视作行为模式的一个促进因素。
• The basic feature of positive comity is its voluntariness.积极礼让的基本特征是它的自愿性。

10 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

11 oligarchy   

n.寡头政治

参考例句：

• The only secure basis for oligarchy is collectivism.寡头政体的唯一可靠基础是集体主义。
• Insecure and fearful of its own people,the oligarchy preserves itself through tyranny.由于担心和害怕自己的人民，统治集团只能靠实行暴政来维护其统治。

12 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

13 appeasement   

n.平息，满足

参考例句：

• Music is an appeasement to shattered nerves. 音乐可抚慰受重创的神经。
• There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. 对残暴行为是不能姑息的。 来自演讲部分

14 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

15 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

16 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

17 destitution   

n.穷困，缺乏，贫穷

参考例句：

• The people lived in destitution. 民生凋敝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His drinking led him to a life of destitution. 酗酒导致他生活贫穷。 来自辞典例句

18 psyche   

n.精神；灵魂

参考例句：

• His exploration of the myth brings insight into the American psyche.他对这个神话的探讨揭示了美国人的心理。
• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche.她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。

19 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

20 shredded   

shred的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Serve the fish on a bed of shredded lettuce. 先铺一层碎生菜叶，再把鱼放上，就可以上桌了。
• I think Mapo beancurd and shredded meat in chilli sauce are quite special. 我觉得麻婆豆腐和鱼香肉丝味道不错。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

22 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

23 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

24 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

25 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

26 steered   

v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
• The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

28 touted   

v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• She's being touted as the next leader of the party. 她被吹捧为该党的下一任领导人。
• People said that he touted for his mother and sister. 据说，他给母亲和姐姐拉生意。 来自辞典例句

29 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

30 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

31 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

32 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。