经济学人下载:回家的路还长着呢

Lexington
列克星敦

The long road home
回家的路还长着呢

How Osama bin Laden's death, and life, have changed America
奥巴马如何对待奥萨马本拉登之死，无形之中，已经影响了美国

May 5th 2011 | from the print edition

WHAT America needs, Sarah Palin is fond of saying, is a commander-in-chief, not a professor-in-chief. Like many other Republican critics of Barack Obama, the former governor of Alaska ought to be eating her words. Indeed, after the daring raid that killed Osama bin Laden, America has discovered that its commander-in-chief is one cool cat. The president issued the order for the attack on Friday April 29th and it was executed on the Sunday. In between, on the Saturday night, a relaxed Mr Obama gave a wisecracking speech at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner. Flashing his toothsome smile, he poked fun not only at Donald Trump, the presidential wannabe who had questioned whether the president was a real American, but also at himself for his professorial ways and tanking poll numbers.

莎拉佩林喜欢说，美国，要成为一个统帅而不是首席教授。看来这位前阿拉斯加州州长得和其他民主党反对人士一样，收回前言了。事实上确实如此，自从美国突袭击毙奥萨马本拉登之后，其统帅地位坚不可摧。4月29日星期五，奥巴马总统下达刺杀令，周日执行。周六晚，在每年一度的白宫记者晚宴上，奥巴马的演说诙谐又轻松。带着标志性的奥氏微笑，他冲着唐纳德特朗普打趣，这位地产大亨曾经质疑这位美国总统是否真的是美国人。当然，总统也对他自己的执政之道和坦克民意调查开开玩笑。

The joke now is on the critics of the president’s foreign policy. In one gloriously mistimed editorial, written just ahead and in ignorance of the raid on Abbottabad, Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, mocked Mr Obama for “leading from behind”. All the Republicans had to do, argued Mr Kristol, was to nominate “a real leader: a workhorse not a show horse; a steady hand not a flip-flopper; a profile in courage not in cleverness; a competent man or woman with strength and confidence in defence of liberty at home and abroad.”

这个笑话成了总统外交政策的一大讽刺。有篇社论，事前发布，有点不合时宜。文章认为袭击阿伯塔巴德无知可笑。保守派杂志Weekly Standard主编克里斯托讽刺奥巴马“幕后操作”。所有共和党人皆反驳克里斯托，寓意告诉他什么才是真正的领袖：良马不是拿来秀的，是铁腕就不会轻易受伤，假装坚强不是真正的智慧，一个拥有能力和自信的人，无论对内对外都会捍卫自由。