经济学人下载:奥巴马的表现,不如人意

Lexington
来克星敦

An underperforming president
奥巴马总统的表现不如人意

How Barack Obama allowed the Republicans to rout him over the debt ceiling.
在债务上限问题上，贝拉克．奥巴马是如何让共和党人彻底打败自己的

Aug 6th 2011 | from the print edition

AT THE very last moment, and just before his 50th birthday this week, Barack Obama got the deal that raised the debt ceiling by between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion and so prevented the United States from going into default on his watch. But this does not mean that the roof is not still in danger of falling in on his presidency. The superstar of 2008, who once looked like a shoo-in for re-election, now appears extremely vulnerable. Despite talk that he will raise a record $1 billion war chest, Democrats in Congress have begun to whisper that Mr Obama’s fading chances of winning a second term are coming to depend on the absence—so far—of an exciting Republican challenger.

在最后一刻，就在本周奥巴马50岁生日之前，他获得了协议，将债务上限提高2.1-2.4万亿美元，从而避免了美国在他执政期间出现违约。但是这并不意味着，在他担任总统期间已经毫无危险。2008年的超级明星曾经看起来必定会连任，但是现在看起来似乎非常不堪一击。尽管他将融资创纪录的10亿美元，但是国会的民主党人已经开始窃窃私语，奥巴马先生连任的可能性越来越小，是否能连任将取决于是否缺少出众的共和党总统候选人，到目前为止还没有出众的共和党总统候选人。

Single events seldom determine the fate of a presidency. Those who said just over a year ago that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would doom Mr Obama were as wrong as those who thought May’s killing of Osama bin Laden would make him unbeatable. The debt fight is in similar danger of being over-interpreted. Mr Obama’s fate depends more on two big bets he placed well before the Republican capture of the House in November’s mid-terms. The health-care reform that chewed up political capital in his first two years tanked with voters, and more than $800 billion of stimulus spending has so far failed to deliver the hoped-for growth in jobs. The outcome of the next election will depend more on unemployment than on Mr Obama’s handling of the past month’s comic opera on the debt ceiling.

单一的重大事件很少会决定总统宝座鹿死谁手。墨西哥湾石油泄漏事件刚刚过去一年多，当时有人说，奥巴马先生将因此连任无望，他们错了。5月，杀死了奥萨玛．本．拉登，有人因此认为他将不可战胜，他们同样错了。同理，债务之战也有被过多解读的危险。在中期选择中，共和党掌控了众议院。奥巴马的命运更多的是取决于早在此之前他下的两大赌注。医疗改革耗尽了执政前两年众望所归的政治资本，到目前为止，8000多亿美元的刺激计划并没有带来预期增多的工作机会。下一届选举的结果将更多地取决于失业率而不是奥巴马处理过去一个月有关债务上限问题喜歌剧的方式。