VOA常速英语:民主党候选人举行第一次公开电视辩论

On stage in Miami, ten Democrats vying for the right to challenge President Trump next year in a nationally televised debate hosted by NBC. Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren who’s been rising in the polls of late focused on the economic divide in the United States. I am in this fight because I believe that we can make our government, we can make our economy, we can make our country work not just for those at the top, we can make it work for everyone, and I promise you this I will fight for you as hard as I fight for my own family. New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio crafted his appeals to working-class voters. Because putting working people first, it matters. We need to be that party again. But Ohio Representative Tim Ryan said National Democrats were out of touch. We are not connecting to the working-class people in the very states that I represent, in Ohio, in the industrial Midwest. We’ve lost all connection. New Jersey senator Cory Booker argued he was the best candidate to defeat President Trump next year.

This is a referendum on him and getting rid of him, but it’s also a referendum on us, who we are and who we must be to each other. Immigration was a flashpoint in the debate. Former cabinet secretary Julian Castro lashed out in Trump administration policies in the wake of the drowning deaths of a father and daughter from El Salvador and the haunting photos that have drawn international attention. Watching that image of Oscar and his daughter Valeria is heartbreaking. It should also piss us all off. Former Texas congressman Beto O Rourke has joined in the condemnation. He would not turn back Valeria and her father Oscar. We would accept them into this country and follow our own asylum laws. We would not build walls. We would not put kids in cages. The candidates were also asked about recent tensions with Iran. Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar said she feared that President Trump was moving the country closer to war. And this president is literally every single day ten minutes away from going to war, one tweet away from going to war, and I don’t think we should conduct foreign policies in our bathrobe at 5:00 in the morning.
It was also a debate over whether the US should stay in Afghanistan. Ohio Representative Tim Ryan said yes. And the lesson that I’ve learned over the years is that you have to stay engaged in these situations. But Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard said it was time for the United States to leave. As a soldier I will tell you that answer is unacceptable. We have to bring our troops home from Afghanistan. We are in a place in Afghanistan where we have lost so many lives. Also taking part in the Wednesday debate were former Maryland Representative John Delaney and Washington governor Jay Inslee. On Thursday, 10 more Democratic contenders will get their first chance to debate. They include Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, California Senator Kamala Harris, and the current frontrunner former Vice President Joe Biden.
Jim Malone VOA news Washington.