全美市长会议奥巴马发言[译]

译：Tony
感谢VivAn的帮助

Barack Obama at U.S. Mayor's Conference

When a disaster strikes – a Katrina or what's happening now in cities like Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, or a six-alarm blaze or a shooting. It's City Hall we lean on, it's City Hall we call first, and City Hall we depend on to get us through tough times. Because whether it's a small town or a big city, the government that people count on most is the one that's closest to the people.

And it's precisely because you're on the frontlines in our communities that you know what happens when Washington fails to do its job. It may be easy for some in Washington to remain out of touch with the consequences of the decisions that are made there – but not you.

You know what happens when Washington puts out economic policies that work for Wall Street but not Main Street – because it's your towns and cities that get hit when factories close their doors, and workers lose their jobs and families lose their homes because of an unscrupulous lender. That's why you need a partner in the White House.

You know what happens when Washington makes promises it doesn't keep and fails to fully fund No Child Left Behind – because it's your teachers who are overburdened, your teachers who aren't getting the support they need and your teachers who are forced to teach to the test, instead of giving students the skills they need to compete in our global economy. That's why you need a partner in the White House.

You know what happens when Washington succumbs to petty partisanship and fails to pass comprehensive immigration reform – because it's your communities that are forced to take immigration enforcement into your own hands, your cities’ services that are stretched your neighborhoods that are seeing rising cultural and economic tensions unnecessarily because Washington is not doing its job. That's why you need a partner in the White House.

You know what happens when Washington listens to big oil and gas companies and blocks real energy reform – because it's your budgets that are being pinched by high energy costs, your schools that are cutting back on textbooks to keep their buses running and it's the lots in your towns and cities that are brownfields. That's why you need a partner in the White House!

Now, despite the absence of leadership in Washington, we're actually seeing a rebirth in many places. Obviously, Exhibit A is what my friend Rich Daley has done. He's made a deep and lasting difference in the quality of life for millions of Chicagoans. I'm thinking of Mayor Cownie, who's working to make his city green; or Mayor Bloomberg, who's fighting to turn around the nation's largest school system or Mayor Rybak, who's done an extraordinary job helping the Twin Cities recover from the bridge collapse last year and so many other mayors across this country who are finding new ways to lift up their communities, who are building on the extraordinary diversity and immigration, and new ideas that are the hallmark of cities.

But you shouldn't be succeeding despite Washington – you should be succeeding with a hand from Washington.

Neglect is not a policy for America's metropolitan areas. It's time City Hall had someone in the White House you could count on the same way that so many Americans count on you. And that's what this election is all about.

Because while Senator John McCain is a true patriot, he's a genuine American hero. He’s somebody who has performed magnificent service to this country. The fact is he won't be that partner. His priorities are very different from yours and from mine. And I speak, by the way, not just to Democrats but to Republicans as well. At a time when you're facing budget deficits and looking to Washington for the support you need, he isn't proposing a strategy for America's cities. Instead, he's calling for nearly $2 trillion in tax breaks for big corporations and the wealthiest Americans at the same time as he's actually opposed to more funding for the COPS program and the Community Development Block Grant program. That's just more of the same in Washington.

全美市长会议奥巴马发言

当卡特琳娜飓风、现在在Cedar Rapids和Des Moines两市放生的洪水、六级火警或是枪击案这样的灾难来袭的时候，我们依靠的是市政厅，我们首先联系的是市政厅，我们又是指望市政厅帮助我们度过困难的时期。这是因为，无论是小的乡镇还是大的城市，民众所仰仗的政府是距离民众最近的。

正是因为你们站在我们整个社会的最前沿，所以你们知道当华盛顿没有履行他的职责的时候会发生什么。也许，对于在华盛顿的某些人来说，不计后果地做出决策是很容易的事情——可是你们却不能这样。

当华盛顿推出的经济政策只适合华尔街而不是广大民众时，你们知道会发生什么吗？当由于肆无忌惮的房贷者而引发工厂倒闭、工人失业、民众流利失所的时候，是你们的乡镇和城市首当其冲。这也正是你们在白宫需要一个好搭档的原因。

当华盛顿许下不会去实践的诺言，无法资助“不让一个孩子掉队”基金的时候，你们知道会发生什么？正是因为你们的老师们背上了过重的负担，才使得他们得不到必要的支持并被强制进行应试教育而非教授学生们应对经济一体化竞争的技能。而这，正是你们在白宫需要一个好搭档的原因。

当华盛顿屈从于小党派而没有通过全面的移民政策改革时，你们知道会发生什么？正是因为你们的社区被强制接收移民，你们的城市服务资源要分给你们的新邻居，才加重你们本不必要的文化和经济紧张，而这，全是由于华盛顿没有尽到它的职责。这也正是你们在白宫需要一个好搭档的原因。

当华盛顿听从大的石油和天然气公司，而阻止真正的能源改革的时候，你们知道会发生什么？正是由于你们的预算被高能源成本挤压，才使你们的学校不得不削减课本的开支来供养他们的校车。你们的很多乡镇和城市都出现了大量的废弃用地。而这，正是你们在白宫需要一个好搭档的原因！

如今，虽然华盛顿缺乏领导能力，但事实上，我们在许多地方都看到了希望。第一个例子当然是我的朋友Rick Raley所做出的贡献了。他在生活质量问题上给数百万芝加哥民众的带来了深远的影响。我又想到了正在使自己的城市变绿的Cownie市长；正在扭转这个国家最大的教育系统的Bloomberg市长；还有为帮助双子城从去年的桥梁垮塌事件中恢复过来而做出非凡贡献的Rybak市长。其他的市长们有的正在寻找新的方法来提升他们的社区，有的正在打造与众不同的多元性和移民政策，以及作为城市标志的新想法。

但是，离开了华盛顿，你们不会成功——而在华盛顿的帮助下，你们就会取得成功。

视而不见不是一个适合美国大都市区域的政策。市政厅需要一个人在白宫作为你们的依靠，就像那么多美国民众依靠你们一样。现在是时候了。而这，正是选举的意义所在。

参议员John McCain是一个真正的爱国者，同时他也是一个真正的美国英雄。他的确为这个国家的移民事业做出了贡献。但事实上，他不会成为我刚才提到的那个好搭档。他所优先考虑的与你我是不同的。而顺便说一下，我所说的话不只针对民主党，也同样针对共和党。当你们面对财政赤字而转向华盛顿寻求需要的支持时，他是不会为美国的城市提出一个战略构想的。相反，与此同时，他会为大公司和最富有的美国人寻求将近20万亿的减税，而且，事实上他是反对向COPS（译者：Common Open Policy Service，公共开放策略服务）计划和社区开发单元计划提供更多的拨款的。这跟华盛顿是一丘之貉。

注：由于水平有限，难免出现错误和不当，希望热心的朋友指正。