奥巴马发表讲话前夕党派分歧扩大

Days before President Barack Obama is expected to unveil proposals to boost America’s sluggish economy and reduce stubbornly high unemployment, the White House is hearing conflicting messages from lawmakers and others as to what the president should put forth.

正当奥巴马总统即将于几天后就如何振兴低迷的美国经济和降低居高不下的失业率发表演讲之际，白宫听到议员和其他人对总统应该提出怎样的计划产生分歧。

Thursday’s address before a joint session of Congress is expected to set political battle lines for the remainder of the year and perhaps all the way to the 2012 general election.

预计奥巴马总统星期四(9月8日)在国会发表的演讲将设定今年余下时间或者直到2012年总统大选时的政治斗争战线。

Progressive members of Mr. Obama’s Democratic Party say the president should champion bold government action to revive a languishing economy. Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California spoke on NBC’s Meet the Press television program.

奥巴马的民主党内激进的成员说，总统应该采取大胆的政府行动以振兴疲软的经济。来自加利福尼亚州的女众议员玛克辛·沃特斯在NBC全国广播公司电视台的“与媒体见面”节目中说：

“He must have a jobs program, must create jobs,” said Waters. "I am talking about a program of a trillion dollars or more. We have got to put Americans to work. I am very hopeful that the president is going to put a big program out there and fight very hard for it.”

“他必须提出一个就业计划，必须创造就业。我的意思是一个数万亿美元的计划。我们必须让美国人民有工作。我满怀希望总统将会提出并全力争取推行一个大规模的计划。”

Already rejecting such an approach are Republicans, who control the House of Representatives. Minnesota Congresswoman and Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann blasted Mr. Obama’s economic policies on CBS’ Face the Nation program.

目前控制众议院的共和党已阻止了类似的提案。明尼苏达州的女众议员、争取共和党总统候选人提名的有力竞争者米歇尔·巴克曼在CBS电视台的“面对全国”节目中指责奥巴马的经济政策。

“His solutions have all been government-focused and very temporary gimmick fixes,” said Bachmann. "It is destabilizing if you do not have permanent fixes. I want to see permanency in the [U.S.] tax code.”

巴克曼说：“他的方案全都是专注于政府的，是非常临时的花招。如果没有永久性的修复方案，就会造成不稳定。对于美国的问题，我想要看到永久性的赋税方案。”That view was echoed by Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who spoke on ABC’s This Week program. DeMint said actions, not words, are sorely needed to boost confidence in the private sector and encourage businesses to hire workers.

这种观点得到了南卡罗来纳州的共和党国会参议员吉姆·德敏特的认同。他在ABC美国广播公司电视台的“本周”节目中说，我们非常需要行动而不是空谈，以提升对私人部门的信心和鼓励企业雇佣员工。

“I, frankly, am very tired of speeches,” said DeMint. "I do not want to be disrespectful of the president, but what I want to see is something in writing. I do not think the president is going to come out with things that are really going to create jobs. I am afraid it is just pandering to his [political] base.”

德敏特说：“坦白地说，我非常厌倦听演讲。我不是想不尊重总统，我是想看到书面的东西。我认为总统将要提出的计划并不能真正创造就业。我担心这个计划只是迎合他的政治需要。”

President Obama has only hinted at the measures he will propose Thursday. Last week, reporters repeatedly pressed White House spokesman Jay Carney for details, without success.

奥巴马总统对于星期四将要提出的措施只做了一些暗示。上星期，记者们一再向白宫发言人卡尼追问相关细节，但他没有透露。

“Economists will be able to look at this series of proposals and say that, based on history, based on what we know, that it would add to economic growth and it would cause an increase in job creation,” said Carney.

卡尼说：“经济学家将会看到这一系列计划，然后说，根据历史，根据我们的知识，这些计划能够促进经济增长和创造更多就业。”

For months, U.S. joblessness has been stuck at the nine-percent range. Since World War II, no U.S. president has been re-elected with an unemployment rate that high. Constraining the federal government’s ability to stimulate the economy are trillion-dollar deficits and chronic political gridlock in Washington.

美国的失业率几个月来一直处于9%的水平。自二战以来，还没有哪位美国总统在失业率如此之高的情况下连任成功。数万亿美元的财政赤字和华盛顿的长期政治僵局制约了联邦政府刺激经济的能力。