奥巴马：为何考虑让萨默斯掌管美联储

Weighing Choice for Fed, Obama Offers His *** a Defense of Summers
By JONATHAN WEI***AN and MARK LANDLER August 01, 2013

奥巴马：为何考虑让萨默斯掌管美联储
JONATHAN WEI***AN, MARK LANDLER 2013年08月01日
WASHINGTON —  Facing dissent from Congressional Democrats, President Obama on Wednesday offered a strong defense of his potential choice of Lawrence H. Summers to head the Federal Reserve, though he said no final selection had been made.
华盛顿——周三，面对民主党议员的异议，奥巴马总统为他选择劳伦斯·H·萨默斯(Lawrence H. Summers)执掌美联储(Federal Reserve)的意向作出了有力辩护。不过他说，自己尚未做出最终选择。
For the first time, he offered up the names of three possible successors to the current Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke: Mr. Summers, a former senior economic adviser to the president; Janet L. Yellen, the Fed’s vice chairwoman; and Donald L. Kohn, a former Fed vice chairman. Mr. Obama said he would probably make the decision this fall.
他第一次提出了三名可能接任现任美联储主席本·S·伯南克(Ben S. Bernanke)职务的候选人，他们是曾担任总统高级经济顾问的萨默斯；美联储现任女副主席珍妮特·L·耶伦(Janet L. Yellen)；美联储前副主席唐纳德·L·科恩(Donald L. Kohn)。奥巴马说，他可能会在今秋做出决定。
Speaking to members of the House Democratic caucus on Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama said in answer to a sharp question from Representative Ed Perlmutter of Colorado that he believed Mr. Summers had been maligned in the liberal news media, according to several House Democrats who attended the meeting.
据几名与会的民主党众议员透露，奥巴马在国会山(Capitol Hill)对众议院民主党人发表讲话期间，回应了科罗拉多州众议员埃德·珀尔马特(Ed Perlmutter)的尖锐提问，奥巴马在回应时说，他相信萨默斯受到了自由派新闻媒体的中伤。
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Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
奥巴马总统于周三在华盛顿国会山会见了众议院民主党议员。图为会议之后的参议员哈里·里德（中左）和总统。
Representative Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia, said the president described Mr. Summers as a rock of stability who deserved credit for helping to steer the American economy back from the financial crisis of 2008 and the ensuing recession. Mr. Obama, Mr. Connolly said, singled out the negative coverage of Mr. Summers in The Huffington Post.
弗吉尼亚州民主党众议员杰拉尔德‧E·康诺利(Gerald E. Connolly)说，总统将萨默斯形容为稳定的基石，称他值得受到赞扬，因为他在引导美国经济走出2008年的金融危机及接踵而至的经济衰退的过程中，有所助益。康诺利说，奥巴马还特别提到《赫芬顿邮报》(The Huffington Post)对萨默斯的负面报道。
The president, Mr. Connolly said, emphasized that he was “not even close” to *** a decision on the next Fed chairman. Mr. Obama did not address the criticism of Mr. Summers over his record on women’s issues, which has dogged him throughout his career. Mr. Summers, a chief architect of financial deregulation during the Clinton administration, has questioned the benefits of the Fed’s recent efforts to stimulate the economy.
康诺利说，总统强调，他还“远未能”就谁将出任下任美联储主席做出决定。奥巴马没有谈论萨默斯对女性议题的一贯态度所招致的指责，这种态度贯穿了他的整个职业生涯。萨默斯是克林顿(Clinton)政府时期放松金融监管的主要设计者，他曾对美联储最近努力刺激经济的成效提出过质疑。
Mr. Obama came to know Mr. Summers during the 2008 presidential campaign, relying on his analysis of the financial crisis, aides say. Mr. Summers served as the chief economic adviser in the White House in 2009 and 2010 and continues to talk with the president occasionally.
奥巴马的助手们说，他是在2008年的总统竞选中开始了解萨默斯的，当时他很依赖后者对金融危机的分析。在2009年和2010年，萨默斯担任白宫首席经济顾问，之后仍然会时常与总统交谈。
Mr. Obama and Ms. Yellen do not know each other well.
奥巴马和耶伦彼此不大认识。
The president also reassured Congressional Democrats on Wednesday that he would not “sell out” his party’s principles as the White House tries to negotiate a budget deal with Senate Republicans this fall. He traveled to Capitol Hill to hold separate meetings with House and Senate Democrats amid a rising sense of frustration with the White House, which has spent more time reaching out to Republicans than to Democrats and has angered some liberals with a dogged defense of National Security Agency telephone and Internet surveillance programs.
本周三，总统还向民主党议员保证，白宫设法在今秋与参议院共和党人举行谈判，努力就预算问题取得妥协时，他也不会“出卖”民主党的原则。在民主党议员对白宫的失望之情日渐高涨之际，他前往国会山，分别会见了参众两院的民主党议员，他们失望的原因是白宫花了更多的时间争取共和党人，而不是民主党人，白宫固执地为国家安全局(National Security Agency)的电话和网络监听计划辩护的做法，也惹恼了一些自由派议员。
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said Washington could break through the budget impasse and make progress on an overhaul of the tax code if the parties worked together.
参议院多数党领袖、内华达州参议员哈里·里德(Harry Reid)说，如果两党能够携手合作，那么华盛顿就能够打破预算僵局，在税法改革上取得进展。
“If we have both sides off doing their own thing, no,” progress will not happen, he said on Monday. “That’s why I’ve been disappointed at the meetings Republicans have had with the president.”
他在周一说，“如果两党都只顾自己的事，那就没办法了”，事情就不会取得进展。“这就是我一直对共和党人和总统之间的会面感到失望的原因。”
Emerging from their meeting with the president, House Democrats said Mr. Obama emphasized his shift back to a focus on economics after spending months on immigration, national security and gun control issues. The president said those issues would become easier if middle-class Americans felt more positive about their economic prospects.
在结束与奥巴马总统的会议之后，众议院民主党人表示，奥巴马强调在花费数月时间关注移民、国家安全和枪支管控的问题之后，将会把关注点转移到经济上。奥巴马表示，如果美国中产阶级对自己的经济前景有更积极的感受，这些问题或许会更容易解决。
“If we remain focused and clear on middle-class bread-and-butter issues, we win the broader public argument because the other side has no solutions on this,” one senior House Democrat quoted the president as saying.
一位资深的民主党众议员引述总统的话说，“如果我们继续专注而明确地为中产阶级解决生计问题，那么就能在更广泛的公众辩论中获胜。因为对方在这个问题上并没有解决方案。”
Perhaps more than anything else, Democrats wanted Mr. Obama to remain resolute against further Republican budget cuts and threats to shut down the government unless the president’s health care law is starved of financing.
或许比其他问题都更重要的是，民主党人希望奥巴马继续坚定反对共和党人进一步削减预算的举动，也继续坚决对抗共和党人的威胁：要是不掐断流向奥巴马总统的医疗法案的资金，就设法关闭政府。
Representative Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont, pressed the president for his strategy in the face of signals by Republicans that they would demand serious concessions before they voted to raise the government’s statutory borrowing limit.
共和党人发出了信号，表示要得到巨大的让步，才会投票支持提高政府的法定借款上限。对此，佛蒙特州民主党众议员彼得·韦尔奇(Peter Welch)追问奥巴马有何应对策略。
“It’s a simple strategy, Peter. We’re not negotiating,” the president responded, according to Mr. Welch. “I’ve got nothing in my pocket. The cupboard is bare.”
韦尔奇透露，奥巴马回答道，“彼得，策略很简单，我们不会和他们谈判。我兜里没有什么可以拿出来让步的，空空如也。”
The president said he would entertain “reasonable proposals” to shift some budget cuts from discretionary programs aimed at helping the poor to long-term changes to “entitlement programs” more broadly targeted at older Americans. The White House chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, went to the Capitol shortly after the president’s departure to resume talks with a small group of Republican senators trying to find a path forward.
奥巴马表示，他会考虑“合理的提议”，将一些预算削减从旨在帮助穷人的机动开支项目中，转移到面向老年人的范围更广的“福利项目”中。奥巴马离开后不久，白宫幕僚长丹尼斯·R·麦克多诺(Denis R. McDonough)就前往国会，与一小群共和党参议员继续会谈，尝试找出一条打破僵局的道路。
But House Democrats said they were confident that the president would not go too far. “He was very emphatic on that,” said Representative George Miller, Democrat of California.
然而民主党众议员表示，他们相信总统不会让步太多。加利福尼亚州民主党众议员乔治·米勒(George Miller)表示，“在这一点上他态度十分坚决。”
Democratic leaders said they were also assured that Mr. Obama understood the gravity of his decision on the next Fed chairman. Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said there was an “understanding whoever the president chooses will be received with great respect.”
民主党领袖表示，他们也确信，奥巴马理解其对下一任美联储主席所做的决定关涉重大。众议院民主党领袖、加州众议员南希·佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)表示，人们“理解无论总统选择谁，都会受到极大的尊重”。
Mr. Reid stepped up to Mr. Summers’s defense.
里德挺身而出替萨默斯辩护。
“Larry Summers is a long-term friend of mine,” he said. “I like him a lot. I think he’s a very competent man. But that decision is up to the president.”
“拉里·萨默斯是我长期以来的朋友，”他说，“我很喜欢他，我想他是一个十分称职的人。然而决定还需要总统来做。”
The White House said Mr. Obama was defending Mr. Summers as he would any other loyal and hardworking member of his staff. The president’s comments, officials said, should not be interpreted as a signal on the viability of Mr. Summers’s candidacy.
白宫表示，奥巴马为萨默斯辩护，他也会为其他任何一个忠实、勤勉的幕僚辩护。官员们表示，总统的评论不应被解读为对提名萨默斯的暗示。
“Larry Summers’s service here was extremely helpful to the president as he made decisions and put forth the policies that helped reverse the tragic economic decline that this country faced in the beginning of 2009,” the press secretary, Jay Carney, said. “And he is certainly very grateful for Larry’s service with him.”
“拉里·萨默斯在白宫供职期间，对于总统的决策及政策制定起到了极大的帮助，那些决策和政策帮助扭转了2009年初时，美国经历的惨重的经济衰退，”杰伊·卡尼(Jay Carney)说，“对于拉里给他的协助，他肯定十分感激。”