法意PHIGROUP

 
來源 Feb 5th 2009 From The Economist print edition   Barack Obama is paying the price for his high-flown rhetoric
巴拉克•奧巴馬在爲他誇誇其談的花言巧語付出代價。

The other day Tom Daschle looked certain to become one of the most powerful people in the Obama administration-simultaneously head of the mammoth Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the White House’s health-care tsar. Mr Daschle was to be in charge of delivering what Hillary Clinton singularly failed to deliver in 1993-94-a comprehensive reform of America’s expensive but ramshackle health-care system.
前一天，湯姆•達施勒(Tom Daschle)還十拿九穩地要躋身成爲奧巴馬政府中爲數不多的位高權重的大員，届時，他將兼任衛生與公衆服務部（Department of Health and Human Services, HHS）部長以及白宮衛生政策辦公室主任，兩個讓人絞盡腦汁的活兒。上任後，達施勒將負責美國醫療衛生系統的全面改革，該體系儘管價格高昂，但却風雨飄搖，93到94年，希拉里•克林頓(Hillary Clinton)就有負衆望，改革失敗。
Mr Daschle’s career as a health reformer was killed this week by the revelation, on January 30th, that he had failed to pay $128,000 worth of taxes, mostly relating to a car and driver he had been given use of. At first the Washington establishment assumed that he would ride out the storm. Barack Obama declared his undying support. Mr Daschle pronounced himself “disappointed” by his behaviour. His former colleagues in the Senate competed to praise his public service (”My breast is clear and my support is strong”, declared Jay Rockefeller). Then on Tuesday morning Mr Daschle suddenly withdrew his name.
但1月30日媒體曝光他逃稅達12.8萬美元，其中多與其接受一輛轎車和司機有關，終于在本周結束了他醫療改革家生涯。起先，華盛頓大佬還認爲在這場醜文風暴中，他能全身而退：巴拉克•奧巴馬發表聲明表示將全力支持達施勒。達施勒自己則表示，他爲自己的行爲”深感失望”。而他過去的參議院同事爭先稱譽其公共服務（”我頭腦清醒地告訴你們，我堅决支持達施勒。”，這是杰伊•洛克菲勒的原話）。到了周二早上，達施勒却突然要求撤回提名。
Why the Tuesday surprise? Mr Daschle claims that he read an editorial in that morning’s New York Times that called for him to step aside, and decided that “I can’t pass health care if I’m too much of a distraction.” Others whispered that he would have been pushed if he had not decided to jump.
爲什麽是星期二驚詫呢？達施勒自己的說法是那天早上他讀到《紐約時報》上的一篇專欄1，作者要他滾蛋，于是，他决定”如果我本人太具爭議，那麽我將難擔醫療衛生體系的改革重任。”但也有傳言說，就算他不自行放弃，還是會被踢開。
Earlier that very morning Nancy Killefer had withdrawn her candidacy to be the government’s first “chief performance officer” because she had failed to pay taxes on a domestic employee. A third nominee in a row with tax problems qualified as a “trend” under an unwritten journalistic law. It also raised issues of gender equality: could Mr Obama allow two men, Tim Geithner (now confirmed as treasury secretary) and Mr Daschle, to get away with tax evasion while allowing a woman to take the rap?
當日早些時候，南希•基利弗（Nancy Killefer）也因爲未給一名保姆納稅而放弃任首任白宮首席績效官(chief performance officer)的提名。新聞界有一個潜規則，”三人一趨”，現在，連續三個提名人遭遇”納稅門”已經可以說是一個”趨勢”了。同時，它又引起了男女平等問題：在逃稅問題上既然奧巴馬能對蒂姆•蓋特納（Tim Geithner）（現任財長）和達施勒這兩個男人法外施仁，他怎麽能讓一介女流一力當之呢？
Mr Daschle’s disappearance underlines one of the Obama administration’s biggest problems: the difficulty of managing the gap between the rhetoric of political campaigns and the reality of governing. All presidential candidates promise to reform Washington. Bill Clinton promised to create “the most ethical administration in history”. George Bush promised to put an end to the capital’s rancid partisan divisions. But Mr Obama raised the mantra of change to new rhetorical heights.
達施勒走了，但這件事却突顯了奧巴馬政府最大的問題之一：競選時的旦旦信誓和執政之間難以逾越的鴻溝。所有的總統候選人都允諾要政府改革。比爾•克林頓(Bill Clinton)保證要建立一個”史上最有德的政府”，喬治•布什(George Bush)說要結束首都惹人生厭的黨派分歧。但奧巴馬竟能把變革這種陳詞濫調的語言文字上升到一個新的高度。
Throughout two years of high-flown speechifying he promised to clean the Augean stables of Washington, close the revolving door between power and money and raise ethical standards. In his inaugural address, he announced the dawn of a new “era of responsibility”; on his first day in office he unveiled a package of tight ethical guidelines, though they didn’t last long.
過去兩年間，奧巴馬四處誇誇而談，都說要清掃華盛頓這個”奧吉亞斯牛圈”2，封死權錢間的”旋轉門”，提高精神文明水平。他在就職演說中宣布，一個嶄新”負責的時代”迎來了黎明，上任第一天，他就公布了一系列嚴格的道德規範，但終究不過曇花一放。
The failure of no fewer than three nominees for high office to pay all their taxes has scrambled this message. Aren’t liberals supposed to believe that government is a good thing? And aren’t people who are being considered to run big departments supposed to be able to run their own financial affairs? (Mr Geithner, who had such trouble understanding the tax code, is now the man in charge of the Internal Revenue Service.) During the presidential campaign, Joe Biden declared that richer Americans had a patriotic duty to pay higher taxes; back in 1998 Mr Daschle opined that “tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter.” Now Democratic insiders were giving the impression that they think that taxes are just for the little people.
但至少有三名被提名的高官有逃稅行爲，說的做的大相徑庭，當然難以服衆。自由主義者不是應該相信政府爲善的嗎？高管難道可以不懂得處理自己的財政問題嗎？（對稅法知之甚少的蓋特納現在掌管著美國國內稅局,Internal revenue Service）。選戰時，喬•拜登(Joe Biden)說，從愛國心上來看，富人有義務多交稅；回首1998年時，達施勒還在說”稅賦老千是在騙大衆的錢，國稅局必須嚴格執法。”但現在，民主黨高層給人們的感覺却是他們認爲，稅收是小卒的事。
But Mr Daschle’s problems were deeper than the odd hundred thousand dollars in unpaid taxes. The man from South Dakota was the embodiment of the Washington that Mr Obama campaigned against-a former high-ranking politician who, on losing his Senate seat in 2004, immediately turned himself into an influence-peddler.
但比起其他問題，他那沒繳清的十萬美元稅收實在是小巫見大巫了。這個南達科塔人恰是華盛頓勢力的代表，這正是奧巴馬要推翻的。他之前就是一個高級政客，2004年，他失掉參議員席位後，搖身一變即成權力掮客。
He earned more than $2m over the past two years as a “special policy adviser” at Alston & Bird, a law firm which conducts extensive lobbying for health-care companies. He earned $1m a year as a consultant to InterMedia Advisors, a private-equity firm founded by Leo Hindery, a big Democratic donor and the man who gave Mr Daschle the fatal “gift” of car and driver. He raked in $150,000 in 2008 from corporate speeches, many to health-care companies. He was also on the board of the Mayo Clinic, one of the most influential voices in the health-care debate.
過去兩年間，他以”特別政策顧問”的身份供職于阿爾斯通&波德(Alston & Bird)法律事務所，這家公司爲醫療衛生公司進行廣泛的游說活動，在此期間，他獲益200萬。他也以顧問的身份在私募公司跨媒體顧問（InterMedia Advisors）年收入100萬，值得一提的是，公司老闆列奧•辛德雷（Leo Hindery）也是民主黨一大捐贈人，不過也是他把那份轎車加司機的”致命禮包”送到達施勒手上的。2008年，他單靠公司演講就把15萬美元納入囊中了，這些演講多爲醫療衛生公司進行。同時，他又是梅育醫學院（Mayo Clinic）的董事，在醫療衛生研討中，梅育醫學院是一大權威。
The problem for Mr Obama is that, in terms of practical politics, many of Mr Daschle’s vices are also virtues. One reason why “Hillarycare” imploded was that Mrs Clinton failed to court the barons on Capitol Hill. Mr Daschle was ideally placed to sell his prospective reforms to his former colleagues in the Senate and the House. Another reason why it failed was that Mrs Clinton failed to pay enough attention to industry groups. Mr Daschle’s innumerable entanglements with those groups might have helped to assuage their worries. Mr Daschle was well-versed in the mind-boggling intricacies of health-care reform; his position as both White House insider and head of the department would also have increased the chances of producing a workable reform.
但就政治實踐來看，達施勒的諸多惡性其實也是一大美德，這是奧巴馬面臨的一個問題。當年希拉里沒跟國會山上的巨頭獻獻殷勤，結果”希拉里醫改”流産。把達施勒放在這個職位上，他就能讓兩院的前同事欣然接受他接下來的改革，這是再好不過的事情了。忽略了工業集團也是希拉里失敗的原因。但達施勒和這些集團錯綜複雜的關係却有助于緩和他們的焦慮。而面對盤根錯節的醫療衛生改革，達施勒却是手到擒來。他既是白宮高官，又是該部門頭頭，這樣，改革成行的可能性也會提高。
Post-pedestal politics後偶像政治Mr Obama remains a forbiddingly powerful president, with a 64% approval rating and a Republican Party that is in a shambles. But he is paying a price for his inflated promises. He has already had to give himself a couple of get-out clauses, supporting Mr Geithner despite his problems with his taxes and nominating a former lobbyist for Raytheon to be number two in the Pentagon, one of the biggest-spending departments in the government, in defiance of his own new guidelines.
不管怎樣，憑著64%的支持率，加之共和黨內目前一片混亂，奧巴馬總統仍然擁有强勢。但對于他那些水中月般的承諾，他正在付出代價。支持身陷”納稅門”的蓋特納，違背自己新的執政綱領，提名雷神公司(Raytheon)一名前說客坐上五角大樓第二把交椅，執管政府開銷最大的部門之一，爲此，他已經不得不給自己開出幾條免責條款。

But the loss of Mr Daschle, one of Mr Obama’s closest allies, many of whose former aides hold key positions in the White House, is the heaviest blow so far. And there will be others. The problem with putting yourself on a pedestal is that it is hard to get down from it and engage in the humdrum work of politics.
但達施勒作爲奧巴馬最親密的盟友，他過去的不少助手都在白宮位居要職，他的離去對奧巴馬是迄今爲止最沉重的打擊。但今後還會有更多打擊。一旦別人把你當成了偶像，你就難以擺脫這個影子，投入到單調的政治活動中。
譯注：
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/0 … uary+04+2009&st=nyt
2. The Augean Stable(s)直譯”奧吉亞斯的牛圈”,源自古希臘神話中關于赫拉克勒斯的英雄傳說. 奧吉亞斯（Augeas）是古希臘西部厄利斯(Elis)的國王。他有一個極大的牛圈，裏面養了2000頭年（一說3000匹馬），30年來未清掃過，糞穢堆積如山，十分肮髒。因此，the Augean stable=very dirty place.
譯者：irini