经济学人下载:美国第41任总统乔治·H.W.布什逝世 享年94岁(2)

People often supposed him out of the loop in other ways, too: a boy born to privilege, called “Poppy” by his parents, product of Phillips Academy and Phi Beta Kappa at Yale, who was (falsely) rumoured in the 1992 campaign never to have passed a quart of milk through a supermarket scanner. He was a Yankee aristocrat who could have followed his Daddy on to Wall Street but instead became a Texas oil man (the only Texan, growled Speaker Jim Wright, who ate lobster with his chilli), and went on to represent the toniest bit of Houston in Congress. All this, as well as the tennis-playing summers in Kennebunkport, seemed to set him firmly apart from the average Joe, though he let it be known as president that his favourite food was pork rinds, and banned from the White House the broccoli his mother had made him eat.
人们通常也认为他在其他方面与众不同：生来优越，父母称之为“Poppy”，高中毕业于菲利普斯学院，还是耶鲁大学的优等毕业生，1992年竞选中被谣传（不实）从未通过超市的扫描仪买过一品脱牛奶。他是美国北方贵族，本可追随父亲脚步进入华尔街，但却成为德克萨斯州的石油大亨（仅有的德州发言人吉姆·怀特吃着麻辣小龙虾，咆哮着表示），之后当选国会议员，代表着休斯顿最时髦的形象。所有这一切，还有肯尼邦克港打网球的夏天，让他看起来和一般叫乔治的人不同，尽管大家知道他是一位最爱吃猪皮、禁止（之前母亲逼他吃的）西兰花进入白宫的总统。

With the label “preppy” came the tag “wimp”, which infuriated him far more. He had had a brave war, enlisting at 18 and completing one mission with his aircraft on fire. Later he did not hesitate to send 27,000 troops to dislodge Manuel Noriega from Panama, or to launch a ground war against Saddam Hussein in 1991—declaring victory and pulling out in 100 hours, which pushed his approval ratings to 89%. He was not above nasty attack ads in the 1988 campaign, excoriating Michael Dukakis for giving furlough to a black rapist. But Nixon, who hated Ivy Leaguers, seemed to think him soft; Reagan said he lacked spunk; and his talk of “Big Mo” and ”kicking ass” on the campaign trail often ended in retreat. In 1990 a dust-up with Congress forced him to capitulate on his steely election pledge of “No new taxes”. This, as well as the brief recession of 1990-91, cost him the 1992 election, though even as voters went to the polls the figures for growth were ticking upwards, ushering in almost a decade of prosperity.
随着“预科生”的标签打上“懦夫”标记，他被深深地激怒了。18岁参军，战争中表现英勇，并在飞机着火的情况下完成任务。当选总统后，他毫不犹豫地派遣27,000名士兵，为了将曼纽尔·诺列加从巴拿马赶出，又或者说是为了1991年对萨达姆·侯赛因发动地面战争——后取得胜利并在100小时内撤离，这使其支持率到达89%。在1988年竞选中，他没有被那些可恶的攻击广告影响，公开指责迈克尔·杜卡其斯给黑人强奸犯放假。但讨厌常春藤联盟的尼克松认为他很软弱；里根说他缺乏勇气；而他在竞选过程中的“大动作”和“大承诺”的言论大都以退却告终。1990年，与国会的一场争吵迫使他放弃了他在竞选时做出的“不增税”的坚定承诺。放弃承诺这件事再加上1990-91年短暂的经济衰退，使他在1992年的选举中失利，尽管选民们投票时经济在增长，后也带来了近十年繁荣。