President Barack Obama has urged Republicans in the House of Representatives to work with him on major national priorities, saying cooperation is essential to the country's economic recovery. President's spoke to Republicans at their issues conference in Baltimore, Maryland and some of the give and take in an extraordinary exchange with his political opposition.
奥巴马总统已经敦促国会众议院的共和党人和他一道解决国家的当务之急，表示合作对于复苏美国经济是必不可少的。美国之音记者罗宾逊就奥巴马总统在马里兰州巴尔的摩举行的会议上对共和党人发表的讲话，以及奥巴马总统和他的政治对手之间的意见交换发回了报道。
After the president's State of the Union Address, in which he warned of the harmful effects of divisive politics, Republicans said he had delivered rhetoric but no indications he was willing to change the direction of his policies.
奥巴马总统在他的国情咨文演讲中警告了政治的分裂会造成的有害影响，在奥巴马总统发表今年的国情咨文演讲之后，共和党人表示奥巴马总统只是使用了雄辩的言辞，但是没有迹象表明他愿意改变他的政策走向。
Republicans have opposed his health care reform effort, asserting it would add to high deficits and heavy long-term debt. They also point to the 10 percent national unemployment rate as proof that administration policies have not been effective.
共和党人一直反对奥巴马的医疗改革努力，断言医疗改革将为美国的高赤字和沉重的长期债务雪上加霜。他们同时把全国百分之10的失业率作为奥巴马政府的政策没有效果的证据。
The president told Republicans in Baltimore while he wants and values constructive debate, Americans in hard economic times do not want politics as usual in Washington:
奥巴马总统在巴尔的摩告诉共和党人，尽管他希望进行建设性辩论并且看重这种辩论的价值，但是处于艰难经济时期的美国人民不希望华盛顿的政治和往常一样。
"I don't think they want more gridlock, I don't think they want more partisanship, I don't think they want more obstruction," said President Obama. "They didn't send us to Washington to fight each other in some sort of political steel cage match to see who comes out alive."
他说：“我不认为他们想要更多的政治僵局，我不认为他们想要更多的政党政治，我不认为他们想要更多的阻挠，阻止议案的通过。他们把我们送到华盛顿不是为了让我们进行某种政治性的铁笼逃脱赛，看谁能够活着逃出来。”
On Friday, President Obama was able to point to new figures showing the U.S. economy grew 5.7 percent, the second straight quarter of growth and fastest since 2003, as proof of progress in recovering from the recession. He has also proposed new tax incentives for small businesses.
星期五，奥巴马得以拿出新的数据。这些数据显示美国的经济上个季度增长了百分之5点7，这是连续第2个季度增长，也是2003年以来最快的增幅。奥巴马总统把这些数字作为使美国经济从衰退中获得复苏的证据。他还提出了针对小企业的新的税收激励措施。
He was blunt in underscoring his frustration with Republican opposition, seen in what he called "disappointing" party line votes, on his economic stimulus Congress approved early last year, and other measures.
"These are serious times and what is required by all of us, Democrats and Republicans, is to do what's right for our country, even if it's not always what is best for our politics," said Mr. Obama.
Representative Mike Pence of Indiana pressed the president on job losses, an issue of particular relevance in Baltimore where unemployment is high, and whether he would support Republican's call for major tax cuts:
来自印第安纳州的国会众议员麦克·潘斯在就业岗位流失问题上对总统步步紧逼，就业问题在巴尔的摩这个高失业率的城市提出，显得很适宜。他同时迫切询问奥巴马总统是否支持共和党人进行重大减税的呼吁。
"The kind of across-the-board tax relief that Republicans have advocated, that President [John] Kennedy advocated, that President Reagan advocated, and that has always been the means of stimulating broad-based economic growth," said Mike Pence.
他说：“我指的就是共和党人提出的全面减税计划，也是约翰·肯尼迪总统主张的那种减税计划，是里根总统主张的那种减税计划。这种减税一直是刺激经济广泛增长的手段。”
Acknowledging again that his administration underestimated the severity of job losses, the president also noted that hundreds of thousands of jobs were already being lost when he began his presidency.
奥巴马总统再次承认他的政府低估了失业问题的严重性。他同时指出，在他开始总统任期的时候，就已经有数十万人失去了工作。
On health care, he took strong exception to Pence's assertion that he and majority Democrats have simply ignored specific Republican alternative proposals, and said this about Republican's tactic portraying health care legislation as a government takeover:
在医疗改革问题上，潘斯众议员表示，奥巴马和大多数民主党人对共和党人提出的具体替代性建议简单地置之不理，奥巴马总统反驳这种观点说，这是共和党人试图把医疗改革立法描绘成是政府要进行接管的策略。
"If you were to listen to the debate, and frankly how some of you went after this bill, you would think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot," said President Obama. "I mean that's how you guys presented it."
他说：“如果你听到这场辩论，坦率地说，听到你们当中的一些人是如何对付这项法案的，你可能会认为这是某种布尔什维克的阴谋。我指的是，你们这些人就是这样描述这个法案的。”
The president also had this exchange with Tom Price of Georgia who criticized what he called numerous statements by the administration that Republicans had offered no ideas:
PRICE: "You have repeatedly said, most recently [in] the State of the Union, that Republicans have offered no ideas and no solutions, in spite of the fact."
OBAMA: "I don't think I said that, what I said was, in the context of health care, I remember that speech pretty well it was only two days ago, I said I welcome ideas that you might provide, I didn't say that you hadn't provided ideas, I said I welcome those ideas you will provide."
PRICE: "Mr. President, multiple times from your administration there have come statements that Republicans have no ideas and no solutions."
It remains to be seen to what degree the president's personal appearance will move Republicans to work harder to find common ground with the president, and to shed a label applied to them in the president's first year: the party of "no".
奥巴马总统本人亲自出席会议这件事，究竟会在何种程度上推动共和党人更加努力地寻找和总统的共同点，撕掉他们在奥巴马总统就任第一年给自己的党所贴上的“说不党”的标签，这一点还有待观察。
The president made a point of noting that Democrats too have contributed to a process in which politics has become a process of demonizing the other side.
奥巴马总统指出，民主党人在使得政治变成妖魔化对方的过程中也难辞其咎。
Saying all must choose between being "politicians first or partners in progress," he said he is ready and eager to work with anyone who is ready to proceed in "partisan goodwill" but added that absent any progress in breaking partisan gridlock, he still has a responsibility to act in a way that benefits Americans.
这位美国总统谈到，所有人都必须选择，是要先做个政客呢，还是先做个进程中的伙伴。奥巴马总统表示，他已经准备好，并且迫切地希望和任何准备表现出“政党友好”意愿的人合作，但是他补充说，即使打破政党政治僵局的进程一无所获，他仍然有责任以造福美国人民的方式来工作。 |