Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has accused U.S. President George Bush of launching what he termed "a false political attack" on him. Mr. Obama was reacting to comments Mr. Bush made in Israel about appeasing dictators. The White House denies that the president's comment was directed at Senator Obama, but the remarks have created a political storm among Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill.
民主党总统候选人巴拉克.奥巴马指责美国总统布什对他发动了他所谓的“虚假的政治攻击”。他是针对布什在以色列发表的有关姑息独裁者的评论做出反应的。白宫否认布什总统的评论是针对奥巴马参议员。
Speaking to Israel's parliament Thursday, President Bush strongly rejected the idea of negotiating with foreign leaders or radicals that are considered enemies of the United States.
布什总统在以色列议会强烈反对与被认为是美国敌人的外国领导人和激进份子举行谈判。
"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," said President Bush. "We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is - the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
布什说：“有些人认为，我们应该与恐怖分子和极端分子谈判，似乎用一些巧妙的辩解就能够让他们承认自己是一贯错误的。我们以前曾经听到过这类愚蠢的幻想。当纳粹坦克1939年越境进入波兰的时候，一位美国参议员宣称： ‘主啊，如果我当时能够和希特勒谈一次话，这一切本来都是可以避免的。’我们有责任指出真相以正视听。这种自欺欺人的、貌似有理的绥靖政策已经一再被历史证明其荒谬之处。”
President Bush did not mention any names, but a number of prominent Democratic leaders perceived the remark as a veiled attack on Senator Obama, who has said if he was president he would be willing to negotiate with Iranian leaders if they would end their nuclear weapons program and support for terrorists.
布什总统没有提到任何人的名字，但有些人认为这些评论是不点名地批评了正在竞选美国总统的参议员奥巴马。
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said the president's comments were beneath the dignity of the office. Democratic Senator Carl Levin also responded.
美国众议院议长佩洛西表示，总统的评论有失白宫的尊严。
"For him to use purple prose such as somebody is appeasing, it seems to me is totally inappropriate," said Senator Levin. "And if there was any effort to suggest that the difference over how to fight terrorism amounts to anything other than a difference over tactics rather than a difference over goals, is way out of place, wrong inappropriate, and I would hope that that is not what he said."
民主党参议员卡尔列文作出回应说：“他用夸张的文学语言说有人主张绥靖，在我看来，这是完全不适当的。我们在如何打击恐怖主义方面的差异仅仅在于采取战略的不同，而不是目标的不同，如果布什总统的话意图超出这个范畴，那他就是完全乱了方向，错误而不当，我希望他没有说这样的话。”
Senator Obama issued a statement saying "the president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."
参议员奥巴马发表声明对布什总统的评论作出回应。他在声明中说：“布什总统把外交政策以及恐惧政策极度政治化并不能向美国人民或者我们的坚定盟友以色列提供安全。”
Senator John Kerry, who lost the 2004 presidential election to President Bush, said if the president believes engagement with Iran is appeasement, he should demand the resignation of members of his own cabinet, since Secretary Gates and Secretary Rice have both favored negotiations with Iran.
Obama has said that a complete refusal to meet with those leaders who are at odds with the United States does not help solve diplomatic problems.
奥巴马曾经说，断然拒绝与美国对立的国家领导人会面无助于解决外交难题。
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters in Israel that Mr. Bush's comment was not a reference to Senator Obama, and said the speech was not about 2008 politics.
白宫女发言人佩雷诺对记者说，布什总统在以色列发表的意见所指并非参议员奥巴马。她说，布什总统的讲话并不是关于2008年的政治。
The rhetorical clash comes just hours after Obama picked up a long-awaited endorsement from his one time Democratic rival for the nomination, former Senator John Edwards. The endorsement already seems to be paying off for Senator Obama, who has picked up four of the former senator's 19 delegates and the endorsement of the United Steelworkers Union, which had formally supported Edwards.
在发生这场言词冲突的几个小时之前，奥巴马从前参议员约翰.爱德华兹那里获得了期待已久的支持。爱德华兹曾是竞争民主党总统候选人提名的对手。爱德华兹宣布支持奥巴马有利于加强奥巴马的优势地位。奥巴马获得了这位爱德华兹原来获得的19张党内代表人票当中的四张，他还获得美国联合钢铁工会的支持。联合钢铁工会本来支持爱德华兹。 |