與總統夫婦合影 白宮新年季的例行尷尬事

WASHINGTON — As President Obama faced public criticism over his Oval Office address on terrorism this month, one lawmaker took a private moment during a holiday party at the White House to reassure the commander in chief.

華盛頓――這個月，奧巴馬總統在橢圓辦公室就恐怖主義的演講遭受公衆批評，一位議員在白宮的假日派對上，利用私人時間幫助總統打消疑慮。

“That was a good speech you gave last night, Mr. President,” Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, told Mr. Obama as he stopped to have his picture taken with him in the photo line at the black-tie congressional ball last week. “It’s hard to be the grown-up in the nation.”

上個星期，在正裝國會舞會上，當奧巴馬與田納西州民主黨衆議員史蒂夫·科恩(Steve Cohen)合照時，科恩說， “昨天晚上你的演講很好，總統先生，在這個國家裏當成年人是很困難的。”

It was one of hundreds of seconds-long interactions that the president and the first lady, Michelle Obama, are having with guests at some of the 20 holiday receptions that crowd their lives each December. Eagerly anticipated, sometimes politically fraught and often agonizingly awkward, photo-line banter with the president has become a staple of the holiday season in Washington, where yuletide ritual meets professional opportunism — all in the course of about six seconds.

每年12月，總統與第一夫人米歇爾·奧巴馬(Michelle Obama)都要忙着參加20次節日接待會，其間，類似這樣持續幾秒鐘的互動會發生好幾百次。每逢華盛頓的12月底，聖誕佳節的例行公事與職業機會主義交匯在一起，與總統合照期間的打趣也就成了這段時間的重要節目，它們備受期待，有時充滿政治涵義，不過大多數時候都非常笨拙——一切都發生在六秒鐘之內。

“You need to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities,” Representative Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota, told Mr. Obama last year in one such brief exchange, taking advantage of her last holiday soiree with the president before leaving Congress. The president told her that it was not that simple, according to an account she gave to The Washington Free Beacon.

“你得轟炸伊朗的核設施了，”去年的類似場合上，明尼蘇達州共和黨衆議員米歇爾·巴赫曼恩(Michele Bachmann)抓住她離開國會之前最後一次參加總統招待會的時機，對奧巴馬總統說道。後來她在接受“華盛頓自由燈塔”(The Washington Free Beacon)網站採訪時說，總統告訴她，事情沒有那麼容易。

Jokes are told, interviews are requested and unsolicited advice is given to the president along with handshakes, high-fives and the not-infrequent deer-in-headlights stare from a speechless guest. Family members are introduced — and often star-struck.

在這段時間裏，有人講笑話，有人要求採訪，有人主動給出建議，人們和總統握手、擊掌，但也經常有嘉賓一言不發，茫然地瞪着總統。嘉賓會向總統介紹自己的家人，他們經常被總統的明星氣場震懾住。

“To staff the president and first lady at the holiday photo line is to observe humanity in its most awkward state,” said Bill Burton, a former top press official in Mr. Obama’s White House.

“幫助總統和第一夫人拍攝假日照片總會見識到尷尬狀態下的人性，”奧巴馬班底的前任首席新聞官比爾·伯頓(Bill Burton)說。

Mr. Obama, who barely tolerates the schmoozing that is presidential tradition, does far fewer receiving lines than his predecessors. George W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush, worked a photo line at each of the 25 holiday parties he hosted in 2008, his last year in office, but the Obama White House has eliminated all but a handful. Congress and the news media are among the groups that still stand in line for the presidential grip-and-grin.

奧巴馬不太能忍受這個閒聊的傳統，和他的前任喬治·W·布什(George W. Bush)與勞拉·布什(Laura Bush)相比，他安排合影的次數要少得多。布什夫婦在白宮的最後一年，也就是2008年，他們在25個節日派對上都安排了合照活動，但奧巴馬只在四五個節日派對上安排合照。在這樣的活動中，國會議員與媒體成員都可以靜靜站在總統身邊，與他握手，面帶笑容，合影留念。

The Obamas cut back the ritual in part because it is demanding and time-consuming — each line lasts as long as two and a half hours — and in part because they wanted to give as many people as possible an opportunity to visit the White House.

奧巴馬伕婦縮減這樣的活動，一來是爲了節省時間——每次合影都要持續大約兩個半小時——二來是因爲他們想盡量讓更多人能夠參觀白宮。

“It’s just long and tiring and pretty hard to get through,” Tina Tchen, Mrs. Obama’s chief of staff, said in an interview. “We also had to balance, from a staff perspective, having photo lines versus how many people we could get in.”

“這個過程很長、很累人，而且相當辛苦，”奧巴馬伕人的幕僚長陳遠美(Tina Tchen)在接受採訪時說。“從員工角度而言，我們也要在拍照合影以及讓更多人進入白宮之間做出平衡。”

By eliminating the receiving line, Ms. Tchen said, the White House is able to invite twice as many guests to a party. But the private backlash has been fierce in some quarters.

陳女士說，減少了合影的接待環節，白宮就可以邀請兩倍的客人來參加派對。但是私下裏，有些人對此也做出了激烈的抱怨。

The moment can be about much more than a picture. The congressional party at the White House last week was Mr. Obama’s first face-to-face encounter with Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, since Mr. Ryan assumed his post in November. If the two spoke about the year-end budget agreement needed to prevent the government from shutting down, neither side would say so.

這個時刻遠不止拍照那麼簡單。自11月威斯康辛州共和黨衆議員保羅·D·瑞安(Paul D. Ryan)當選衆議院議長之後，上週在白宮舉行的國會派對是奧巴馬總統第一次與他會面。即使兩人討論了爲防止政府停工而做出的年終預算決議，雙方也是不會承認的。

Drama unfolds in the photo line as well. In 1999, a year after managing impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton, Representative James E. Rogan, Republican of California, lined up with his wife to be photographed with the president and Hillary Clinton.

在合照活動中，也會發生戲劇性事件。1999年，也就是比爾·克林頓總統(President Bill Clinton)遭受彈劾一年之後，加利福尼亞州共和黨衆議員詹姆斯·E·羅根（James E. Rogan，克林頓彈劾案中的檢察官之一——譯註）攜妻子與總統及希拉里·克林頓(Hillary Clinton)合影。

When the Rogans’ turn came and they were announced, Mr. Rogan said in an interview, Mr. Clinton “kind of looked at me funny for a moment, then he let out this big sigh and gave me a huge smile and said: ‘Jim, thanks for coming. I’m really glad you’re here. Merry Christmas.’ ”

後來羅根先生在採訪中說，輪到他們夫婦合影時，克林頓總統“有點滑稽地盯着我看了一會兒，然後大聲嘆了口氣，露出一個開朗的笑容說，‘吉姆，謝謝你能來，你來了我真是太高興了。聖誕快樂。’”

“It felt like he and I had kind of patched it up,” Mr. Rogan said. But Mrs. Clinton, who was distracted while saying goodbye to the previous guest, was not as friendly. When she finally noticed Mr. Rogan, her eyes widened with surprise, he said, and she gripped his hands tensely. “There was some iciness there and a bit of a grimace,” he said.

“感覺有點像我們和好了，”羅根說，但是克林頓夫人正忙着和上一位客人說再見，顯得不那麼友好。後來她注意到下一位是羅根先生，不禁驚訝地睜大了雙眼，他說，她緊緊握住他的雙手，“有點冷漠，又略帶一絲痛苦，”他說。

The encounter apparently touched a nerve at the White House. Soon after, the picture of the Rogans and the Clintons turned up in a widely read Washington newspaper column alongside an item suggesting that Mr. Rogan was hypocritical for promoting his rivalry with the Clintons in fund-raising appeals and then jockeying for a photograph with them at the White House.

這次會面顯然觸動了白宮的神經。不久後，羅根夫婦與克林頓夫婦的照片出現在華盛頓一家報紙有很多讀者的專欄上，附文認爲，羅根是個僞君子，他在自己的籌款活動中宣揚自己和克林頓夫婦的敵對關係，之後又千方百計進入白宮與他們合影。

Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic strategist and lobbyist with close ties to the White House who has attended holiday parties there for decades, said, “I was always surprised at the members of Congress who had adverse relationships with the president, sometimes very personal adverse relationships — either they went to the floor to impeach him or they went to the floor and called him a war criminal — but they would show up at the Christmas party with their spouse and their children in tow and pose for the picture like nothing had happened.”

民主黨戰略家與院外遊說者史蒂夫·埃爾曼多夫(Steve Elmendorf)同白宮有着密切的關係，十幾年來一直都有參加白宮節日派對，他說，“有些國會議員和總統之間是敵對關係，有時候甚至是非常私人的敵對關係，他們有的彈劾總統，有的管他叫戰犯——但一到聖誕派對，他們還是會帶着伴侶和孩子們過來擺姿勢拍照，好像什麼事都沒有發生過一樣，我一直都覺得很奇怪。”

There are few breaks for the Obamas in the crush of photo-line encounters. Aides make sure the president and first lady get brief moments to sip water or use a restroom, and extra padding is placed under the carpet they stand on in the Diplomatic Reception Room for added comfort. Guests are given color-coded, timed tickets telling them when to join the queue, and military social aides are on hand to move them speedily through, take their names and announce the guests when it is their turn for a portrait, captured by the official White House photographer.

在合影的人潮之中，奧巴馬伕婦幾乎沒空休息。助理們要確保總統和第一夫人能抽出短暫的時間喝口水，上個廁所。在合影的外交官接待室裏，工作人員在總統夫婦站立的地毯下面多加了一個墊子，讓他們能夠舒服一點。賓客們得到不同顏色的編碼和時間卡，告訴他們何時應當去排隊，軍事公關助理幫他們迅速行動，輪到他們拍照的時候報出他們的名字，這些照片都是由白宮官方攝影師拍攝。

“We always used to tell the president and Mrs. Bush beforehand how many clicks were to be expected that night so they would be mentally prepared,” said Amy Zantzinger, who served as Mrs. Bush’s social secretary. “What always surprised me was the person who wouldn’t move on, the person that had to tell a story or multiple stories and just would not budge.”

“我們總得事先告訴布什總統和總統夫人，當晚有多少人合影，好讓他們做好心理準備，”布什總統夫人的公關祕書艾米·贊津格(Amy Zantzinger)說。“有些人不願意離開，他們有一個或者好幾個故事要講，就是不願意動窩，這些人總是讓我吃驚。”

The military social aides also hold women’s purses, both for convenience and to discourage requests for autographs or selfies with the president.

軍事公關助理還會幫女士們拿包，一方面是爲了方便，一方面也是爲了防止客人們要簽名或者要求和總統自拍。

Ann Compton, who covered the White House for 40 years for ABC News, said she almost always treated the photo as a crucial, although brief, opportunity to buttonhole the president with a question only he could answer. The exception was at the first President George Bush’s 1992 holiday party, a somber affair because he had just lost in his re-election campaign and was preparing to leave the White House.

ABC新聞臺的安·康普頓(Ann Compton)40年來一直報道白宮新聞，她說，每一年拍照的時間雖然短暫，但她卻總是把它當做一個重要的機會，強迫總統聽一個只有他本人能夠回答的問題。唯一的例外是老布什總統(George Bush)1992年的聖誕派對，那是一次慘淡的活動，當時他剛剛在連任選舉中失利，準備離開白宮了。

Ms. Compton said that she and her husband had opted not to join the photo line, but that they then encountered the Bushes as they were posing with the last guests.

康普頓說，她和丈夫決定不參加拍照，但是布什夫婦在和最後幾名客人拍照時看到了他們。

“Barbara Bush looked at me and said, ‘You weren’t in line,’ ” Ms. Compton recalled, “and I said, ‘Mrs. Bush, that was our Christmas present to you.’ ”

“芭芭拉·布什看着我說，‘你們沒來拍照啊，’”康普頓女士回憶，“我說，‘布什女士，這就是我們送你們的聖誕禮物。’”