奥巴马《勇往直前》第一章（6）原创中英对照
It was Bill Clinton’s singularcontribution that he tried to transcend this ideological deadlock,recognizing not only that what had come to be meant by the labelsof “conrvative” and “liberal” played to Republican advantage, butthat the categories were inadequate to address the problems wefaced. At times during his first campaign, his gestures towarddisaffected Reagan Democrats could em clumsy and transparent(what ever happened to Sister Souljah?) or frighteninglycoldhearted (allowing the execution of a mentally retarded deathrow inmate to go forward on the eve of an important primary). Inthe first two years of his presidency, he would be forced toabandon some core elements of his platform—universal health care,aggressive investment in education and training—that might havemore decisively reverd the long-term trends that were underminingthe position of working families in the new economy.
克林顿（BillClinton）总统一人独辟蹊径，试图打破这种意识形态的僵局，他认识到在政客身上打上“保守派”和“自由派”的标签渐渐趋向有利于共和党，也发现了解决我们面对的问题的手
段不足。在他第一次竞选总统时，他在处理愤愤不平的民主党里根支持者（传统上是民主党人，特别是北方的白人工人阶级，但在里根竞选总统时投票给共和党）的手法上显得有些笨拙和直率（索尔嘉之日文
妹妹是怎么啦？1992年克林顿在竞选时严厉谴责政治立场激进而且喜好饶舌的女歌星SisterSouljah，并因此而赢得了中间选民的支持），或者是令人寒心的冷淡无情（在重要的初选前夕提前对一个智障精神病的死囚执行死刑）。在总统任期的前2年，他被迫放弃了自己政治纲领中的一些核心原则——全民卫生保健计划，对教育和培训的积极投资——因此可能导致决定性地颠倒了美国长期发展趋势，这种趋势正在削弱新经济体中工作家庭的地位。
Still, he instinctively understoodthe falness of the choices being prented to the Americanpeople. He saw that government spending and regulation could, ifproperly designed, rve as vital ingredients and not inhibitors toeconomic growth, and how markets and fiscal discipline could helppromote social justice. He recognized that not only societalresponsibility but personal responsibility was needed to combatpoverty. In hi
s platform—if not always in his day-to-daypolitics—Clinton’s Third Way went beyond splitting the difference.It tapped into the pragmatic, nonideological attitude of themajority of Americans.
但，他本能地意识到这是个错误的选择，他注意到如果能够合理安排政府开支和政府规章的话，会成为经济的发展中至关重要的因素而且不会产生抑制作用，市场和财政自律能够有助于促进社会公平。他认识到扫除贫穷不仅是社会机构的责任，也是每个人的责任。在克林顿总统的政治纲领中——并不一定呈现于他每日的政治活动中——他的第三条路线政策（ThirdWay，是介于自由放任资本主义和福利国家之间的一种发展模式。由于它与里根以前的自由主义政策以及里根后的保守主义政策都不一样，故称之为第三条道路）远不仅仅是折中路线。它迎合了注重实效的、无意识形态的大多数美国人的性情。
Indeed, by the end of hispresidency, Clinton’s policies—recognizably progressive if modestin their goals—enjoyed broad public support. Politically, he hadwrung out of the Democratic Party some of the excess that hadkept it from winning elections. That he fa
iled, despite a boomingeconomy, to translate popular policies into anything rembling agoverning coalition said something about the demographicdifficulties Democrats were facing (in particular, the shift inpopulation growth to an increasingly solid Republican South) andthe structural advantages the Republicans enjoyed in the Senate,where the votes of two Republican nators from Wyoming, population493,782, equaled the votes of two Democratic nators fromCalifornia, population 33,871,648.
实际上，在他总统任期结束时，克林顿的政策——如果谦虚一点地说，被公认为进步策略——得到了广大民众的支持。从政治上来说，为了竞选胜利，他削弱了某些民主党的政治优势。在这方面他失败了，尽管国家经济繁荣，但是将受欢迎的政策转变为两党治理联合的形式，说明民主党正在面临着人口分布带来的难题（特别是，人口增长使得共和党南方阵营日益稳固），并且共和党在国会享有组织结构优势，因为在国会中，两张来自怀俄明州（人口49万3782）共和党参议员的投票与两张来自加州（人口3387万1648）民主党参议员的投票具有相同的效力。
But that failure also testified tothe skill with which Gingrich, Rove, Norquist, and the like wereable to consolidate a虚拟防火墙
nd institutionalize the conrvative movement.They tapped the unlimited resources of corporate sponsors andwealthy donors to create a network of think tanks and mediaoutlets. They brought state-of-the-art technology to the task ofmobilizing their ba, and centralized power in the Hou ofReprentatives in order to enhance party discipline.
但是这方面的失败也是拜金里奇,罗夫和罗奎斯特等人的所赐，他们有能力巩固并制度化保守党的政治运动。他们利用企业赞助者和富有捐赠者的无限资源建造了一个政治智囊团和媒体渠道的网络。他们应用这种艺术级别的政治活动方式来动员基层党员，而且为了加强党纪，将众议院的权力集中化。
And they understood the threatClinton pod to their vision of a long-term conrvative majority,which helps explain the vehemence with which they went after him.It also explains why they invested so much time attacking Clinton’smorality, for if Clinton’s polici
es were hardly radical, hisbiography (the draft letter saga, the marijuana puffing, the IvyLeague intellectualism, the professional wife who didn’t bakecookies, and most of all the x) proved perfect grist for theconrvative ba. With enough repetition, a looness with thefacts, and the ultimately undeniable evidence of the President’sown personal laps, Clinton could be made to embody the verytraits of sixties liberalism that had helped spur the conrvativemovement in the first place. Clinton may have fought that movementto a draw, but the movement would come out stronger for it—and inGeorge W. Bush’s first term, that movement would take over theUnited States government.
