奥巴马的白宫岁月（2016）（2）

The President told me, "Harry,
总统先生和我说 哈里
"This legislation is more important to me,
这项法案对我来说至关重要
by far, than my re-election.
甚至 比我的连任还重要
"This is going to do something to change America
我们需要做点什么 来改变美国的现状
"And we've got to get this done."
我们必须把这件事落实
Joe Lieberman caused me a bit of trouble on national TV.
乔 利伯曼在电视节目中给我造成了些许麻烦
You've got to take out the Medicare buy-in,
你必须得移除医疗保健补偿购入
you've got to forget about the public option.
你必须得忘掉公众选择
'I left the studio, and probably'
我离开了录影棚 然后在大概
five minutes afterwards, in the car going home,
五分钟后 我开车驶向了回家的路
Harry Reid called me and said,
哈里 瑞德给我打了个电♥话♥说
"Can you come to my office this afternoon?"
你下午能到我办公室来一趟吗
I said, "Look, I think there's a lot here for the liberal part of
我说 我觉得自♥由♥派想要
the Democratic Party to
在这上面死撑 他们需要做的事情
stick with it and nobody can get everything."
还有很多 而且最后往往是两败俱伤
It was a bitter pill.
这就像一味苦药
There were many members on the liberal side of the spectrum
自♥由♥派中很大一部分人都
anxious to include public options.
急不可耐地想看到公众选择被包含进去
But Lieberman's decision closed the door.
但利伯曼所做的决定 彻底断了他们的念想
There was no public option in the bill
参议员们在平安夜准备投票时
when the senators arrived for the vote on Christmas Eve.
此时公众选择并没有被包含进法案中
A blizzard had crippled the capital's transport system.
一场暴风雪瘫痪了首都的运输系统
The only danger now for Leader Harry Reid
哈里 瑞德所面对的唯一威胁
was if even one Democrat failed to turn up,
就是 是否会有民♥主♥党人士没能出席 即使只有一个
the bill couldn't pass.
法案也无法通过
The Republican senator from Oklahoma said,
一名来自俄克拉何马州的参议员说
Senator Byrd was very old,
参议员伯德太年迈了
and the Senator for Oklahoma said
然后这位代表俄克拉何马州的参议员说
he hoped he'd died during
他希望他晚上就能去世
the night so we would be short one vote.
这样我们就能少投一张票
92-year-old Democrat Robert Byrd had been a senator
92岁高龄的民♥主♥党议员罗伯特 伯德在
since before Obama was born.
奥巴马出生前就是一名议员
Good morning. Good morning. How do you feel? Good.
早上好 早上好 感觉如何 棒极了
How do you feel about working on the day before Christmas?
在圣诞节前夜还要工作是怎样一种感觉
Oh, I do what duty tells me to do.
噢 这只是工作使然罢了
Mr Byrd.
伯德先生
Mr Reid of Nevada.
来自内华达州的瑞德先生
'And finally, it's going to pass.
最后的最后 它还是要通过了
'I vote no.'
我投否决票
'For a few seconds I just was so'
有那么几秒钟我感觉自己
engrossed in my thoughts that...
太过于沉浸自己的思维中
I guess I was so used to
我想我可能是习惯于对
voting "No" On stuff it was a surprise to me,
出乎意料的事情投出否决票
to vote and actually get something done.
出乎意料地能够投票并落实下一件事情
Mr Reid of Nevada, aye.
来自内华达州的瑞德先生 赞成
We changed it real quick, yeah.
我们马上就做出了更改
But it was a little, a little embarrassing.
虽然还是有一丝丝 一丝丝的尴尬
Later that day, Obama headed off for Christmas with his family.
那天晚些时候 奥巴马马不停蹄地回家与家人共度圣诞
Now all he needed was for House and Senate Democrats
如今他所需考虑的 便是如何让众议院和
to agree how to combine their two bills.
参议院民♥主♥党就联合两份法案达成一致
I'll be rolling up my sleeves and spending some time
我得在国会召开会议之前
before the full Congress even gets into session.
鼓足干劲 花上更多时间
Because there are a lot of provisions that are both in
因为在参议院和众议院的法案中
the Senate and in the House bill,
有着不少相同的条款
I actually think that reconciling them
事实上我认为将他们协同一致
is not going to be as difficult as some people may anticipate.
并没有一部分人所想象中的那么困难
In the early spring of an election year, the Members of Congress,
在选举年的初春 国会成员们
their attention naturally turns away from his agenda
自然会将目光从既定的行程上转移到
on to their own re-election and he knew that, you know,
自己的连任方面上去 他心知肚明
it's like turning over an hourglass
这就像将沙漏倒置一样
and the sands are just going down really fast then.
当中的沙子会以极快的速度落下
The President decided to do something that was quite unusual.
总统决定做一些非同寻常的事情
I don't know if it had ever been done before for a particular
我不知道在这之前的立法过程中有没有如此
piece of legislation like this.
不正常的情况出现过
He held and led several days of meetings in the Cabinet room.
他在内阁厅内主持并主导了几天的会议
Senate Democrats and House Democrats argued and squabbled
参议院民♥主♥党人士和众议院民♥主♥党人士争吵不休
and said they were going to get up and leave.
都叫嚷着自己要起身离开
There was a lot of anger, a lot of emotion.
当时的气氛剑拔弩张 难以自控
What we were talking about in my estimation was getting a bill,
在我看来 我们所讨论的是如何立法
and I had to protect my
而且我必须保护自己的议员们
senators and make sure I didn't give up too much.
并保证我没有做出太多让步
There were certain things
有某一些事项参议员们
that the senators were just not going to
并没有打算要放进他们的法案中
put in their bill, or that they would have in their bill
要不就是他们要在法案中加入
that we objected to.
我们所反对的事项
The President was getting a little exasperated, and we all were,
总统开始变得有些恼火 我们也一样
we were all tired of it.
我们都感到精疲力竭
We took a break and went in across the hall to the Oval Office.
我们稍事休息 穿过长廊走到了总统办公室
He said, "You know, I think I've just about
他说 知道吗 我觉得自己已经
"Done everything I can do here."
黔驴技穷了
And Rahm said, "You know, you're right."
然后拉姆说 你说的没错
At a certain point, your presence,
在某些时候 你出现了
they've got to know that you have a price.
他们得知道你心里有数了
It doesn't add anything for you to stay another two hours.
在那里多待上两个小时并不会起到什么作用
In some sense, they're enjoying debating in front of you.
某种意义上来说 他们很享受在你面前争斗的感觉
This debate was about money.
这场争斗与钱有关
The Senate had a plan to cut costs that the House opposed.
参议院有着众议院所不赞同的削减开支计划
The Chief Of Staff saw a way to break the deadlock.
幕僚长看破了打破桎梏的玄机
Obama had to back one side.
奥巴马必须得站在其中一边
I'll make sure they know what the price is.
我会让他们确实地做到心里有数
You don't have to do that.
你不必去这么做
The President stood up in place and he said,
总统站在所有人面前说道
"That's it, I'm finished.
就这样吧 我听够了
"If we can't get the Democrats to agree on this,
如果我们不能让民♥主♥党达成一致
"We don't have a chance,
我们就没戏啦
"And obviously my presence here is not helping.
而且 很显然我在这里一点作用都没有
"As far as I'm concerned, this meeting is over.
我觉得 会议可以结束了
"I'm going to bed."
我得去睡了
And he walked out of the room,
他走出房♥间
and there was this lull, this pause.
周围暂时平静了一下 消停了一下
Pelosi started picking up her papers,
佩洛西捡起她的文件
Reid started picking up his papers, and at that point
瑞德也捡起他的文件 就在这时候
Rahm Emanuel stood up and said, "Stop, we can't leave this way!"
拉姆 伊曼纽尔站起来说 等等 我们可不能就这样走了
I said, "There will not be a bill with his signature, without it,
我说 拿不到他签字的单子啊
"So let's go on to the other items since he's already decided
那我们继续过另外的内容 反正他都决定了
"What he wants, and his
他要什么
signature is the only way it becomes law."
只有他的签字 才能形成有效法律
That was kind of like about 11.50pm.
那已经大概是晚上11点50了
Rahm is saying, "All right,
拉姆说 好了
Henry, you take this, and you take that,
亨利 你拿着这个 你 拿着那个
"And does this work, Nance?"
这样的话怎么样呢 南希
And then that's how we kind of finally got it done
然后这基本就是我们最后弄好的样子
and people agreed - "This works".
他们会同意的 这行的通
As soon as Congress reconvened, the Democrats would pass
当国会再召开时 民♥主♥党人会通过
this combined bill, and health care would be law.
这项联合法案 然后医保便可以成为法律条例
But then, a Democrat in Boston, Massachusetts,
但是那个时候 波士顿 马萨诸塞州的民♥主♥党派
said something that would undo all their work.
说了一些让他们前功尽弃的话
A by-election was underway
递补选举正在进行
to fill the Senate seat of Ted Kennedy,
选出合适人选 补位
who had died of cancer.
前参议员泰德肯尼迪 他因癌症去世了
Democrat Martha Coakley was the frontrunner,
民♥主♥党人科克利是领跑者
until she offended Boston's Red Sox fans.
一直到她得罪了波士顿红袜队的粉丝们
When asked why all the backroom dealing,
当问到 为什么都有私下的交易时
she told the Boston Globe...
她告诉波士顿全球报
You could not think of a...
你不能想到
of a comment more calculated to antagonise people
随便说点什么就会
in the state of Massachusetts.
让马萨诸塞州的民众反感
The President came in, I told him what had happened
总统进来的时候 我把发生的事情告诉了他
and he started leaping up and down, shouting,
他直跳脚 大声说
"She didn't say that!
她可不是这样说的