关于什么才是一位好的美国总统

很棒的一篇社论文章，关于什么才是一位好的美国总统。

翻译如下，原文后附。

《在全美糟糕的这周里，特朗普躲了起来》

David Gergen,

2020/5/30

过去的一周，对于美国，灾难一个接着一个：新冠死亡超过10万恐怖里程碑；乔治弗洛伊德的残忍被害，激起明尼阿波利斯大暴动，以及公众对路易斯维尔7人被枪杀谋求公正处理。

然而特朗普作为总统，却忙于其他的事物：与推特公开对撕；在香港事物上指责中国；与曾被美国视为在抗击新冠上的领导机构的WHO断绝关系。

特朗普也不忘拔冗发布一系列新的充满争议性的推文。他将明尼阿波利斯的抗议者称为“凶手”，并且引用了几年前迈阿密一位警官的种族性言语“只要一有抢劫，就开枪”。他甚至转发其支持者的视频:“只有死了的民主主义者才是好的民主主义者”。

特朗普作为总统在最为敏感的事件上，不但未能在风暴中心发布指导性推文，反而保持沉默：疫情中死去这此多的老年美国人以及处于生活边缘的有色人群。 虽然可以理解，当有其他突发事件发生时，新闻会转向。但我们应该稍加思索，结合以往总统的传统表现，认清现任总统的沉默是如此的悲哀和讽刺。

美国自建国以来，人民指望总统在危机状态下能向民众提供保护、方向指导以及安抚。在乔治华盛顿宣誓成为军队总指挥官后，他其实成为了政治之父及人民的领袖，不久之后，华盛顿被频繁地称为“国家之父”。在领导了战争、宪法会议，并任二届总统后，华盛顿名至实归。华盛顿并不擅长演讲，他以行动说话。作为领袖，华盛顿具备坚强的个性和不可动摇的正义感，成为之后各任总统的标杆。

林肯在怀疑中担任总统。他于1860年以39%的微弱多数赢得选举，并且其军队经验为零。然而之后，他与联邦士兵们建立了特殊的关系，被士兵们称为“阿伯拉罕父亲”。历史学家评论是其朴实、平易近人的作风，以及同理心，感化了士兵们。在接下来的选举中，士兵成为其最大的支持者。

富兰克林罗斯福在早期被认为自我封闭，但其在与小儿麻痹症的抗争中，转变成为关爱型的、富有同情心的领袖。工人阶级及有色人群将他视为白宫里的朋友。其跟随者被感动到了，当罗斯福在某个夏天夜晚做炉边谈话时，人们走在巴尔的摩的街上听着他说的每一个字，宛如一家人坐在客厅里听着收音机那么的亲切。

从1968年至今已过去了50多年，事情在某种程度上变得更糟了。历史学家普遍认为华盛顿、林肯、罗斯福是最伟大的总统们。在爱护普通美国人的生活方面，这三位总统均具有同理心和坚定的信念。他们继续设定着这个标准。

在当代，任何总统都很难维持与大多数美国人之间的密切联系。人们被深深地分隔开了，互联网常常将人区分得更厉害。即使如此，最近的几个总统创建了他们各自的高光时刻，使得他们可以将人们团结在一起，并且使人们感觉大家终究为一体。通过很多事件，这些高光时刻定义了他们各自的总统生涯，任何一个美国成年人都记得一二个这样的例子，这些总统情绪激动地与人们连接在一起，激动人们的心灵。

1986年挑战者的灾难性事故让人记忆犹新。飞船在蔚蓝的天空背景下熊熊升起，然后就是那恐怖的爆炸，飞船瞬间消失了。随后电视上毫无意义地、连续不停地回放着爆炸的画面。罗纳德里根是史上少有的能在哀痛中很好地表达情感的总统。随后里根利用他的演讲，用宇航员们挥手道再见的画面替换掉萦绕在人们心头的那个爆炸画面。宇航员们成为了英雄，里根引用这首二战时的诗作为演讲结束语：“我们永远不会忘记他们，不会忘记今天早晨，他们准备好旅程，挥手道再见，然后挣脱地球的束缚，去触碰上帝的面孔”。

还有1995年联邦大楼爆炸时，克林顿前往俄克拉荷马的情形。克林顿，像里根一样，竭尽全力，捕捉到错综复杂的情感，让好公民的去世赋有意义。克林顿不仅私下给予受难家庭慰问，而且因为公开哀悼感动了全国人民。这是总统首次被称为“主哀悼师”，并被反复用于之后的总统。无独有偶，克林顿在俄克拉荷马的哀悼演讲在其总统复出及后来的低落期时被广泛引用。

人们还记得乔治布什站在世贸中心被炸废墟中一辆翻倒的警车上的情形。 当有一个记者说他听不见总统说话的声音时，布什用扩音器回复道：“我能听见你，世界能听见到。不久炸掉这些大楼的人将会听到我们所有人的声音。”

人们也记得巴拉克奥巴马不断地飞行到各地的墓地去演讲，那里埋葬着在这个枪支泛滥的国家被枪杀的儿童、教区居民们。在查尔斯顿黑人教堂的枪击屠杀纪念活动中，奥巴马作为美国总统，在追悼会上唱起脍炙人口的福音歌曲 Amazing Grace。

里根、克林顿、布什、奥巴马，其中2个共和党，2个民主党，作为人民的“主哀悼师”，在关键时刻，把人民团结起来，让人们记得他们是谁，他们可以做到什么。

为什么现在的“主哀悼师”关键时刻临阵脱逃了？上帝知道。但是他的推脱责任是这周所有灾难之外的又一个灾难。

In a sad week for America, Trump has fled from his duty

Opinion by David Gergen, CNN Senior Political Analyst

Updated 0159 GMT (0959 HKT) May 31, 2020

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/opinions/trump-twitter-minneapolis-george-floyd-gergen/index.html 

(CNN)This past week has brought tragedy upon tragedy to our nation: the death toll from Covid-19 passed a grim milestone of 100,000 deaths; the brutal killing of George Floyd ignited mass protests in Minneapolis and beyond, and seven were shot dead demanding justice in Louisville.

But our President was mostly busy with other things: getting into a public fight with Twitter, condemning China over Hong Kong and terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization -- an entity that once looked to the United States as the world's leading institution in fighting pandemics.

President Donald Trump also took time, of course, to send out a stream of new, controversial tweets. He called protesters in Minneapolis "thugs" and repeated a racist line from a Miami police chief years ago, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts." He even retweeted a video in which a supporter says, "The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat."

But other than a brief tweet in the midst of another storm, Trump remained silent on the most sensitive issue of his presidency: the pandemic that is killing so many older Americans and people of color living near the edge. Understandably, with the rash of other news, the press is moving on. But we should pause for one more moment to recognize how sad and sharp a departure his silence is from past traditions of the presidency.

Since the early days of the Republic until now, Americans have looked to our presidents to provide protection, meaning and comfort, especially in moments of crisis. After George Washington was sworn as commander in chief of the Continental Army, Ethan Allen's younger brother, Levi, wrote to Washington in 1776 that he had become "Our political Father and head of a Great People." Shortly thereafter, Washington was frequently referred to as "Father of Our Country." As he steered us through war, the constitutional convention, and two terms as President, the phrase caught on. He wasn't much of a speaker -- he thought his deeds spoke for him -- but he was a leader of such strong character and rock-solid integrity that he became the gold standard of the presidency.

Lincoln began his presidency during great uncertainty about his leadership. He won the election of 1860 with the smallest plurality ever (39%), and his military experience was virtually nil. But over time, he kindled a special relationship with Union soldiers, many of whom called him "Father Abraham." Historians say his homespun ways, common manner and kindly empathy converted them. In his re-election, soldiers were his greatest supporters.

Franklin Roosevelt was known to be self-involved in his early years, but his struggles with polio transformed him into a caring, compassionate leader. Working families and many people of color thought they had a friend in the White House. So attached did his followers become that when he gave a fireside chat on a summer evening, you could walk down the streets of Baltimore and hear every word as families sat in their living room by a radio.

It's been five decades since 1968, and things are somehow worse

Historians generally agree that Washington, Lincoln and FDR were our greatest presidents. All three are remembered for their empathy and steadfastness in caring for the lives of average Americans. They continue to set the standard.

In contemporary times, it is harder for any president to sustain deep ties with a majority of Americans. We are too sharply divided as a people, and the internet often brings out the worst in us. Even so, several of our recent presidents have found moments when they can unify us and make us feel that at the end of the day, we are indeed one people. In many cases, these moments have come to define their presidencies: Ask any American adult and they can generally remember one, two or even three occasions in which recent presidents connected with us emotionally, stirring our hearts.

I remember with absolute clarity the Challenger disaster in 1986. One saw the plumes of the rising space craft against a bright blue sky -- and then that horrific explosion as it instantly disappeared. Ronald Reagan was one of the few presidents in our history who expressed our emotions so well in a moment of shock and mourning. For hour upon hour, the networks had replayed the explosion, and it seemed so meaningless. But then Reagan used his speech to replace that picture in our minds with a different one: the astronauts waving goodbye. They became our heroes, especially as Reagan (drawing upon speechwriter Peggy Noonan) closed with lines from a World War II poem: "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"

One thinks, too, of Bill Clinton traveling to Oklahoma City after the bombing there of a federal building in 1995. Clinton, like Reagan, was at his best when he captured tangled emotions and gave meaning to deaths of some of our finest citizens. He not only consoled families in private but moved the nation when he mourned them publicly. As I recall, that's when presidents were first called "Mourners in Chief" -- a phrase that has been applied repeatedly to presidents since. (Not coincidentally, Clinton's speech of mourning in Oklahoma City is widely credited with resurrecting his presidency, then in the doldrums.)

One remembers, too, George W. Bush standing on the top of a crushed police car in the rubble of the World Trade Center bombing. When a first responder said he couldn't hear the President, Bush responded through his bullhorn: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."

One also remembers Barack Obama flying again and again to speak at gravesites where young children or church parishioners were being buried, victims gunned down in a gun-obsessed nation. Thinking about the mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, one's mind returns to the image of the President of the United States leading a memorial service, singing "Amazing Grace."

Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama -- two Republicans, two Democrats -- served as our "Mourners in Chief." All four bound us together for a few moments, and we remembered who we are and who we can be.

Why has our current "Mourner in Chief" gone AWOL? God knows. But his flight from responsibility is yet another sadness among this week's tragic losses.