Turmoil in the Middle East looked like a gift to the presidentialcampaign of Mitt Romney. With unseemly eagerness, theRepublican candidate unwrapped his present – blaming theObama administration for encouraging Islamist militancy. Conservative commentators chimed in. On Fox Television, Charles Krauthammer announced: “What we are seeing on thescreen is the meltdown, collapse of the Obama policy on the Muslim world.”
中东地区出现局势动荡，似乎给米特 罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)的总统竞选送去一份礼物。这位共和党候选人不合时宜、迫不及待地打开了这份礼物——谴责奥巴马(Obama)政府鼓励了伊斯兰好战分子。保守派评论人士应声附和。查尔斯 克劳塞默(Charles Krauthammer)在福克斯电视台(Fox)宣称：“我们在屏幕上看到的是奥巴马对穆斯林世界政策的崩溃和破产。”
With an American ambassador dead and US embassies under assault, this is an easy accusation tomake. But it is wrong. Rather than making things worse, the policies pursued by Barack Obamamean that the US is much better positioned to deal with the anti-American violence that has been afeature of politics in the Middle East for decades.
鉴于一位美国大使遇袭身亡，多个美国使馆受到攻击，奥巴马政府很容易成为被指责的目标。但这种指责是错误的。巴拉克 奥巴马(Barack Obama)追求的政策不但没让局势变得更糟，而且在应对反美暴力方面使美国处在比以往强得多的地位。几十年来，反美暴力活动一直是中东政治的一个特色。
The conservative critique of Mr Obama relies heavily on selective amnesia. The argument seemsto be that before his election, the US was strong and respected across the Middle East. But now aweak president has returned America to its enfeebled state under Jimmy Carter, when USdiplomats were taken hostage in Iran. That humiliation, the Republicans well remember, contributedmightily to Mr Carter’s 1980 election defeat.
保守派对奥巴马的批评在很大程度上依赖“选择性失忆”。他们的观点似乎是，在奥巴马当选美国总统之前，美国在整个中东地区实力强大，且受人尊敬。但现在，一位软弱的总统又把美国带回到了类似吉米 卡特(Jimmy Carter)主政时那种虚弱无力的境地，那时有多名美国外交官在伊朗被劫持为人质。共和党人记得，那种羞辱感在很大程度上导致卡特在1980年总统选举中落败。
But the “Obama is Carter” critique ignores the fact that Islamist and Arab rage against Americahas plagued every US president since Mr Carter – Republican and Democrat alike. In 1983, 241 American servicemen were killed when the Marine barracks in Beirut were bombed (under RonaldReagan).
但是，“奥巴马就是卡特”的批评忽略了一个事实，即伊斯兰主义者和阿拉伯世界对美国的愤怒，困扰着卡特以来的每位美国总统，共和党和民主党总统均无例外。1983年，美国海军陆战队驻贝鲁特兵营遭到炸弹袭击，致使241名美国军人死亡，此事发生在罗纳德 里根(Ronald Reagan)任总统期间。
The first attacks on Americans launched by al-Qaeda took place during the Clinton presidency. Then came the horror of 9/11 – as well as George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, whichprovoked anti-American ire across the Muslim world.
基地组织第一次袭击美国人的事件发生在克林顿(Clinton)总统任期内。接着发生了9/11恐怖袭击事件，以及乔治·W·布什(George W. Bush)决定入侵伊拉克，后者在整个穆斯林世界激起了反美怒火。
It is true that Mr Obama came to office hoping to end this dismal pattern. He made a speech inCairo appealing for a fresh start between the US and the Islamic world. His Republican critics claimthat, in Cairo, he apologised for America – showing weakness that is now being punished by theCairo mob. But that argument makes little sense.
没错，奥巴马在上任时希望结束这一糟糕现状。他在开罗发表了一场演说，呼吁开启美国和伊斯兰世界关系的新篇章。持批评态度的共和党人表示，奥巴马在开罗代表美国道歉，显示了美国的软弱，结果现在受到了开罗暴民的惩罚。可这个观点根本站不住脚。
The fact that mobs have attacked US embassies simply shows how easy it is to whip up rageamong angry, ill-educated fundamentalists. We have seen this movie before: after the fatwaagainst Salman Rushdie and the publication of the Danish cartoons. In neither case did it requireAmerican “weakness” to bring protesters on to the streets. If the mob has been enraged by USforeign policy (and that may be crediting the protests with a coherence they lack), the triggerseems more likely to be the death of Osama bin Laden, or Palestine, than American weakness.
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