奥巴马演讲:奥巴马在美两党领导人会晤上讲话
The President speaks to the press after meeting with Congressional leaders from both parties and discussing a number of issues including support for small business, energy and climate reform, and the release of documents related to the war in Afghanistan.
【Transcript】
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. I just concluded a productive discussion with the leaders of both parties in Congress.
This was one of a series of regular meetings that I called for in the State of the Union because I think it’s important for us to come together and speak frankly about the challenges we face and to work through areas where we don’t agree; hopefully find some areas where we do.
Our conversation today focused on an issue that’s being discussed every day at kitchen tables across this country — and that’s how do we create jobs that people need to support their families.
I believe that starts with doing everything we can to support small businesses. These are the stores, the restaurants, the start-ups and other companies that create two out of every three new jobs in this country — and that grow into the big businesses that transform industries, here in America and around the world.
But we know that many of these businesses still can’t get the loans and the capital they need to keep their doors open and hire new workers.
That’s why we’ve proposed steps to get them that help — eliminating capital gains taxes on investments, making it easier for small lenders to support small businesses, expanding successful SBA programs to help these businesses access the capital that they need.
This is how we create jobs — by investing in the innovators and entrepreneurs that have always driven our prosperity.
These are the kind of common-sense steps that folks from both parties have supported in the past — steps to cut taxes and spur private sector growth and investment. And I hope that in the coming days, we’ll once again find common ground and get this legislation passed. We shouldn’t let America’s small businesses be held hostage to partisan politics — and certainly not at this critical time.
We also talked about the need to move forward on energy reform. The Senate is now poised to act before the August recess, advancing legislation to respond to the BP oil spill and create new clean energy jobs.
That legislation is an important step in the right direction. But I want to emphasize it’s only the first step. And I intend to keep pushing for broader reform, including climate legislation, because if we’ve learned anything from the tragedy in the Gulf, it’s that our current energy policy is unsustainable.
And we can’t afford to stand by as our dependence on foreign oil deepens, as we keep on pumping out the deadly pollutants that threaten our air and our water and the lives and livelihoods of our people. And we can’t stand by as we let China race ahead to create the clean energy jobs and industries of the future. We should be developing those renewable energy sources, and creating those high-wage, high-skill jobs right here in the United States of America.
That’s what comprehensive energy and climate reform would do. And that’s why I intend to keep pushing this issue forward.
I also urged the House leaders to pass the necessary funding to support our efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I know much has been written about this in recent days as a result of the substantial leak of documents from Afghanistan covering a period from 2004 to 2009.
While I’m concerned about the disclosure of sensitive information from the battlefield that could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations, the fact is these documents don’t reveal any issues that haven’t already informed our public debate on Afghanistan; indeed, they point to the same challenges that led me to conduct an extensive review of our policy last fall.
So let me underscore what I’ve said many times: For seven years, we failed to implement a strategy adequate to the challenge in this region, the region from which the 9/11 attacks were waged and other attacks against the United States and our friends and allies have been planned.
That’s why we’ve substantially increased our commitment there, insisted upon greater accountability from our partners in Afghanistan and Pakistan, developed a new strategy that can work, and put in place a team, including one of our finest generals, to execute that plan. Now we have to see that strategy through.
And as I told the leaders, I hope the House will act today to join the Senate, which voted unanimously in favor of this funding, to ensure that our troops have the resources they need and that we’re able to do what’s necessary for our national security.
Finally, during our meeting today, I urged Senator McConnell and others in the Senate to work with us to fill the vacancies that continue to plague our judiciary. Right now, we’ve got nominees who’ve been waiting up to eight months to be confirmed as judges. Most of these folks were voted out of committee unanimously, or nearly unanimously, by both Democrats and Republicans. Both Democrats and Republicans agreed that they were qualified to serve. Nevertheless, some in the minority have used parliamentary procedures time and again to deny them a vote in the full Senate.
If we want our judicial system to work — if we want to deliver justice in our courts — then we need judges on our benches. And I hope that in the coming months, we’ll be able to work together to ensure a timelier process in the Senate.
Now, we don’t have many days left before Congress is out for the year. And everyone understands that we’re less than 100 days from an election. It’s during this time that the noise and the chatter about who’s up in the polls and which party is ahead threatens to drown out just about everything else.
But the folks we serve — who sent us here to serve, they sent us here for a reason. They sent us here to listen to their voices. They sent us here to represent their interests — not our own. They sent us here to lead. And I hope that in the coming months, we’ll do everything in our power to live up to that responsibility. Thanks very much.
END 12:37 P.M. EDT
【相关中文报道】
美国总统奥巴马27日首度公开回应阿富汗战争机密情报外泄事件，声称被放到网上的军方文件了无新意，但默认外泄文件所描述的阿战乱象的确存在。
奥巴马当天会晤美国两党议员代表，随后在白宫玫瑰园发表讲话。他称担心事件泄露出的敏感信息可能危及阿富汗作战人员及行动，但又指外泄文件所涉话题了无新意，因为早前均已向公众通报。
7月25日，专门揭弊的“维基解密”网站(Wikileaks)将9万多份美国阿富汗战争机密文件公之于众。这些文件详尽描述了近6年阿富汗战争情况，其中包括美军及北约盟军滥杀无辜、巴基斯坦情报部门与塔利班暗中勾结等诸多不为人知的内容。
奥巴马在讲话中默认上述阿战乱象的确存在，表示正是因为这些挑战，“我才在去年秋天对阿富汗战争策略进行了大规模审议”。
他同时强调，过去7年，美国推行的阿战策略未能应对该地区面临的挑战，暗示外泄文件言及的阿富汗混乱战况应归咎于前任总统小布什。迄今“维基解密”网站公布的文件自2004年1月起，止于2009年12月，基本属于小布什执政时间。
2009年12月，奥巴马公布阿富汗战争新战略，决定增兵3万，让阿富汗和巴基斯坦承担更多责任，并计划2011年中期开始撤军。在27日的讲话中，奥巴马重申上述内容，并称政府已派出美国最好的将领之一(即现任驻阿富汗美军司令彼得雷乌斯)执行这些计划。
在阿富汗战争情报被泄露后，奥巴马政府上下一直在忙于“灭火”。26日，白宫、国务院、五角大楼同声谴责“维基解密”网站的做法系犯罪行为，并且几乎口径一致地宣称外泄文件属于过时或低级别文件。
（本段文字来源：中新社）
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