奧巴馬,我們是否該給他第二次機會?大綱
Last week I was at a party in a Manhattan art gallery attended by the inevitable mix of artists, journalists and wealthy art collectors. I ran into a friend, a painter, who is a strong supporter of the Democratic party, but she told me she wasn't donating money to the Obama campaign this year. "He's been a huge disappointment," she said. "Not one major Wall Street banker has been held accountable for the financial crash, and he's extended the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy. I just can't get enthusiastic about him. I don't even know if I'll vote."
上週我在曼哈頓的一個藝術畫展上，出席者不可避免地混雜着藝術家、記者和富有的藝術收藏家。我遇到了一個畫家朋友，她是堅定的民主黨支持者，但她告訴我今年她不會捐錢給奧巴馬的競選班子。 “他一直令人大大的失望，”她說。 “沒有一個華爾街銀行家被追究金融危機的責任，他延長了布什對富人的減稅政策，我只是對他沒有熱情，我甚至不知道我會不會投票。”
In another part of the room a group of art collectors, most of whom worked in the financial industry, were clutching plastic glasses of cheap white wine and complaining about Obama from the opposite end of the political spectrum. "He's a socialist," said one, a short, bald man who runs a huge hedge fund. "He hates people like us." His friends all nodded in agreement.
在房間的另一邊聚集着一羣藝術收藏家，其中大部分在金融行業工作，他們拿着裝有廉價白葡萄酒的塑料杯，抱怨奧巴馬的政治輻射的另一端。 “他是一個社會主義者，”一個人說，他是一個運行着龐大的對衝基金的矮個禿頭男人。 “他討厭像我們這樣的人。”他的朋友們都點頭贊同。
It's curious that Obama has managed to alienate the big bankers and brokers and investors, many of whom supported him in 2008, even as he has infuriated those who feel he hasn't been tough enough on Wall Street.
奇怪的是，奧巴馬一直試圖疏遠那些大銀行家、經紀人和投資者，他們中許多人曾在2008年支持過他，甚至當他激怒了那些覺得他一直對華爾街不夠強硬的人。
What disappoints many of us outside of Wall Street is the feeling that Obama hasn't been nearly as effective in bailing out the lower and middle classes. For someone who so inspired us with his soaring oratory during the last campaign, he has turned out to be a poor communicator during his first term, failing at crucial moments to explain and defend his policies. Even now, in this crucial election, his best and most articulate advocate has been Bill Clinton, who delivered a superb defence of Obama at the Democratic National Convention.
華爾街之外，令我們許多人失望是感覺奧巴馬一直沒有卓有成效地幫助中下階層走出困境。對於一個在上一屆競選中用鼓舞人心的雄辯術激勵我們的人，他竟然在第一個任期內疏於溝通，關鍵時刻無法解釋和辯護他的政策。即使現在，在這次關鍵的競選中，他最好的和最善於表達的支持者一直是比爾•克林頓，他在民主黨全國代表大會上給予了奧巴馬很大的維護。
The best we can say about Obama's foreign policy record is that he's not George Bush, that he managed to end the absurd and unjustified war in Iraq. And yet… the symbolism of an African-American president is still incredibly potent, even after four years. He remains the most charismatic of world leaders.
我們可以說，奧巴馬外交政策的最好紀錄是他不是喬治•布什，他設法結束了荒謬非正義的伊拉克戰爭。然而......一個非洲裔總統的象徵意義仍然是極其有力的，即使是四年後。他仍然是最有魅力的世界領袖。
Obama may have lost some of his mystique, and disappointed many of us, but he hasn't yet irrevocably betrayed us, or his ideals, and he will probably get another chance to fulfil some of the great expectations of 2008.
奧巴馬可能已經失去了一些神祕感，讓我們很多人失望，但他還沒有不可挽回地背叛我們或他的理想，他可能會得到另一個機會來實現2008年的那些偉大設想。
