拜登总统应该为国退选
文摘
2024-07-06 12:14
美国
美国纽约时报网站于2024年6月28日发表题为《拜登总统应该为国退选》的文章。以下观点不代表任何译者立场，现将全文翻译如下：To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Leave the RaceDamon Winter/The New York TimesThe editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.
编委会由社论编者组成，见解基于专业知识、研究、辩论和一些长期坚持的价值观。编委会独立于新闻编辑部。President Biden has repeatedly and rightfully described the stakes in this November’s presidential election as nothing less than the future of American democracy.拜登总统反复强调，今年11月的总统大选事关美国民主的未来，这一论断正确无疑。Donald Trump has proved himself to be a significant jeopardy to that democracy — an erratic and self-interested figure unworthy of the public trust. He systematically attempted to undermine the integrity of elections. His supporters have described, publicly, a 2025 agenda that would give him the power to carry out the most extreme of his promises and threats. If he is returned to office, he has vowed to be a different kind of president, unrestrained by the checks on power built into the American political system.特朗普已经证明他是这种民主体制的重大威胁——一个反复无常、自私自利的人物，不值得公众信赖。他系统性地试图破坏选举的公正性。他的支持者公开描述了一项 2025 年议程，将赋予他兑现其最极端的承诺和威胁的权力。如果他重新上任，他已发誓要成为与众不同的总统，不受美国政治体系中权力制衡的约束。Mr. Biden has said that he is the candidate with the best chance of taking on this threat of tyranny and defeating it. His argument rests largely on the fact that he beat Mr. Trump in 2020. That is no longer a sufficient rationale for why Mr. Biden should be the Democratic nominee this year.拜登表示，他是最有希望应对并击败这种暴政威胁的候选人。他的论点主要基于他曾在 2020 年击败特朗普的事实。然而，这已不足以成为拜登今年应该成为民主党候选人的充分理由。At Thursday’s debate, the president needed to convince the American public that he was equal to the formidable demands of the office he is seeking to hold for another term. Voters, however, cannot be expected to ignore what was instead plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago.周四的辩论中，总统本应该说服美国公众，他有能力应对连任所带来的巨大挑战。然而，选民无法无视显而易见的事实：如今的拜登已不是四年前的拜登了。The president appeared on Thursday night as the shadow of a great public servant. He struggled to explain what he would accomplish in a second term. He struggled to respond to Mr. Trump’s provocations. He struggled to hold Mr. Trump accountable for his lies, his failures and his chilling plans. More than once, he struggled to make it to the end of a sentence.周四晚上，拜登的表现仅是一名出色的人民公仆。他难以阐明自己第二任期的施政目标，难以应对特朗普的挑衅，难以追责特朗普的谎言、失败和令人不寒而栗的计划。拜登在多次发言中甚至难以完整说话一个句子。Mr. Biden has been an admirable president. Under his leadership, the nation has prospered and begun to address a range of long-term challenges, and the wounds ripped open by Mr. Trump have begun to heal. But the greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election.拜登是值得敬佩的总统。在他的领导下，美国繁荣发展，开始着手解决一系列的长期挑战，被特朗普撕裂的伤口也开始愈合。但现在，拜登能为国家作出的最大贡献，就是宣布推出连任竞选。As it stands, the president is engaged in a reckless gamble. There are Democratic leaders better equipped to present clear, compelling and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency. There is no reason for the party to risk the stability and security of the country by forcing voters to choose between Mr. Trump’s deficiencies and those of Mr. Biden. It’s too big a bet to simply hope Americans will overlook or discount Mr. Biden’s age and infirmity that they see with their own eyes.目前，总统正在进行一场鲁莽的赌博。民主党内更有能力的领导人，能够成为选民更加清晰、更有说服力、更富活力的选择，避免特朗普再次上台。没有理由让民主党冒险，迫使选民在特朗普的缺陷和拜登的不足之间做出选择，这对国家的稳定和安全来说风险太大。仅仅寄希望于美国人会忽视或不在意他们亲眼所见的拜登年龄与衰弱，这样的赌注太大了。If the race comes down to a choice between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden, the sitting president would be this board’s unequivocal pick. That is how much of a danger Mr. Trump poses. But given that very danger, the stakes for the country and the uneven abilities of Mr. Biden, the United States needs a stronger opponent to the presumptive Republican nominee. To make a call for a new Democratic nominee this late in a campaign is a decision not taken lightly, but it reflects the scale and seriousness of Mr. Trump’s challenge to the values and institutions of this country and the inadequacy of Mr. Biden to confront him.如果竞选最终归于特朗普和拜登之间进行选择，本编委会毫无疑问会支持现任总统，这充分说明了特朗普构成的危险有多大。但正是因为这种危险，考虑到国家利益攸关和拜登能力的不稳定，美国需要一个更强大的对手来对抗共和党的推定候选人。在竞选后期呼吁民主党换帅并非轻率之举，这反映了特朗普对美国国家价值观和制度构成的挑战之严峻，以及拜登应对这一挑战之不力。Ending his candidacy would be against all of Mr. Biden’s personal and political instincts. He has picked himself up from tragedies and setbacks in the past and clearly believes he can do so again. Supporters of the president are already explaining away Thursday’s debate as one data point compared with three years of accomplishments. But the president’s performance cannot be written off as a bad night or blamed on a supposed cold, because it affirmed concerns that have been mounting for months or even years. Even when Mr. Biden tried to lay out his policy proposals, he stumbled. It cannot be outweighed by other public appearances because he has limited and carefully controlled his public appearances.终止竞选将违背拜登所有的个人和政治本能。他曾多次从悲剧和挫折中振作起来，显然相信这次也能做到。总统的支持者已经开始将周四的辩论表现解释为相较于三年成就的一个小插曲，但总统的表现不能简单归咎于状态不佳或所谓的感冒，因为它印证了数月乃至数年来积累的担忧。即使在试图阐述政策提议时，拜登也显得语无伦次。这不能被其他公开露面所抵消，因为他一直在限制并严格控制公开露面的次数。It should be remembered that Mr. Biden challenged Mr. Trump to this verbal duel. He set the rules, and he insisted on a date months earlier than any previous general election debate. He understood that he needed to address longstanding public concerns about his mental acuity and that he needed to do so as soon as possible.应该记住，是拜登向特朗普发起了这场口头交锋。是他制定的规则，并且坚持将辩论日期提前到比以往任何大选辩论都要早几个月的日期。他明白，他需要尽快解决公众长期以来对他心智敏锐度的担忧。The truth Mr. Biden needs to confront now is that he failed his own test.拜登现在必须面对的事实是，他未能通过自己设定的考验。In polls and interviews, voters say they are seeking fresh voices to take on Mr. Trump. And the consolation for Mr. Biden and his supporters is that there is still time to rally behind a different candidate. While Americans are conditioned to the long slog of multiyear presidential elections, in many democracies, campaigns are staged in the space of a few months.民意调查和采访显示，选民正在寻找新的声音来对抗特朗普。对拜登及其支持者而言，值得欣慰的是现在还有时间团结在另一位候选人身后。尽管美国人已经习惯了长达数年的总统选举马拉松，但在许多民主国家，竞选活动往往在几个月内完成。It is a tragedy that Republicans themselves are not engaged in deeper soul-searching after Thursday’s debate. Mr. Trump’s own performance ought to be regarded as disqualifying. He lied brazenly and repeatedly about his own actions, his record as president and his opponent. He described plans that would harm the American economy, undermine civil liberties and fray America’s relationships with other nations. He refused to promise that he would accept defeat, returning instead to the kind of rhetoric that incited the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.可悲的是，共和党人在周四辩论后没有进行更深入的反思。特朗普的表现本应被视为失格，他厚颜无耻地反复撒谎、歪曲自己的行为、总统任内的行径以及对手的情况。他所描述的计划将损害美国经济、削弱公民自由并破坏美国与其他国家的关系。他拒绝承诺接受失败，而是回到了曾煽动 1 月 6 日国会袭击事件的言论。The Republican Party, however, has been co-opted by Mr. Trump’s ambitions. The burden rests on the Democratic Party to put the interests of the nation above the ambitions of a single man.然而，共和党已被特朗普的野心裹挟。保护国家利益高于个人野心的重担落在了民主党身上。Democrats who have deferred to Mr. Biden must now find the courage to speak plain truths to the party’s leader. The confidants and aides who have encouraged the president’s candidacy and who sheltered him from unscripted appearances in public should recognize the damage to Mr. Biden’s standing and the unlikelihood that he can repair it.那些一直支持拜登的民主党人现在必须鼓起勇气向领导人说明残酷的事实。那些鼓励总统竞选并将他公开场合即兴露面隔离的亲信和助手应该认识到拜登的地位的损害，以及他难以挽回局面的现实。Mr. Biden answered an urgent question on Thursday night. It was not the answer that he and his supporters were hoping for. But if the risk of a second Trump term is as great as he says it is — and we agree with him that the danger is enormous — then his dedication to this country leaves him and his party only one choice.拜登在周四晚上回答了一个紧迫的问题，这不是他和支持者所期望的答案，但如果特朗普第二次上台的风险有他所说的那样大——我们也同意这个观点——那么他为这个国家的奉献精神使得他和他的政党别无他选。The clearest path for Democrats to defeat a candidate defined by his lies is to deal truthfully with the American public: acknowledge that Mr. Biden can’t continue his race, and create a process to select someone more capable to stand in his place to defeat Mr. Trump in November.对民主党来说，击败以谎言著称的候选人的最明确途径是与公众坦诚相待：承认拜登无法继续竞选，并通过程序选择更有能力的人替代他，在 11 月击败特朗普。It is the best chance to protect the soul of the nation — the cause that drew Mr. Biden to run for the presidency in 2019 — from the malign warping of Mr. Trump. And it is the best service that Mr. Biden can provide to a country that he has nobly served for so long.这是保护国家灵魂的最佳机会——这正是拜登在2019年竞选总统的初衷——使国家免受特朗普的恶毒扭曲，这也是拜登能为他长期忠诚服务的国家所付出的最大贡献。
