拜登表示是时候让位给一个更年轻、更新鲜的声音了
【中美创新时报2024 年 7 月 25 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）拜登总统周三在椭圆形办公室发表讲话，向美国人讲述了他作为总统的遗产以及结束连任竞选的决定。《纽约时报》记者凯蒂·罗杰斯（Katie Rogers）对此作了下述报道。
乔·拜登总统周三在椭圆形办公室发表讲话时告诉美国公众，他已经放弃了连任竞选，因为“新的声音、新鲜的声音——是的，年轻的声音，都有它的时间和地点。”
他的讲话总共持续了 11 分钟，是拜登决定退出以来的第一次长篇讲话，并扩展了他周日在社交媒体上发布的退出竞选的最初声明。他的语气很伤感，他的演讲是一次提前的告别。
“为这个国家服务 50 多年是我一生的荣幸，”他说
拜登坐在“坚决办公桌”后面，周围是家人的照片，他一一列举了任期内的成就，从选出第一位黑人女性担任最高法院法官，到带领美国摆脱一场令人瘫痪的疫情。他感谢美国人民让一个来自宾夕法尼亚州斯克兰顿的“口吃孩子”登上美国政坛的巅峰。
就在镜头外，数十名助手和几位家庭成员，包括第一夫人吉尔·拜登，看着乔·拜登说他将离开他们几十年来一直帮助他登上的总统职位。
“我崇敬这个职位，”他说，“但我更爱我的国家。”
拜登说，他最终得出结论，“最好的前进方式是将火炬传递给新一代。”总统称赞了副总统卡马拉·哈里斯——“她经验丰富；她很坚强；她有能力”——但他警告说，正如他多年来一直警告的那样，美国人面临着在维护民主和让民主倒退之间做出选择。
“历史掌握在你们手中，”拜登说。“权力在你们手中。美国的理念掌握在你们手中。我们只需要保持信心，保持信心，记住我们是谁。”
拜登本周前半段一直在特拉华州的海滨别墅中康复，他说话声音嘶哑，略带含糊，有时说话断断续续，他承诺将捍卫自己的遗产，尽其所能帮助哈里斯在选举中击败前总统唐纳德·特朗普。他直视镜头，很少眨眼。
“在接下来的六个月里，我将专注于做好总统的本职工作，”拜登说。“这意味着我将继续降低辛勤工作家庭的成本，发展我们的经济。我将继续捍卫我们的个人自由和公民权利，从投票权到选择权。”
这次演讲是拜登总统任期内的第四次椭圆形办公室演讲，也是本月第二次。十天前，一名枪手在宾夕法尼亚州的特朗普集会上开枪，打伤了这位前总统，并杀死了他的一名支持者，拜登敦促美国人降低政治气氛。
除了说是时候把火炬传递给年轻人之外，拜登没有给出他决定辞职的其他理由。他没有提到自己党派在 6 月 27 日与特朗普的辩论表现不佳、有时语无伦次后，为让他退出竞选而进行的为期三周的施压活动。
助手们说，拜登和他的顾问们仍然相信他有一条通往胜利的道路，但他无法将焦点从辩论表现转移到特朗普所倡导的政策上。他决定将竞选移交给哈里斯，最终压倒了他对她能否在大选中获胜的一些私人担忧。
拜登决定退出后，周三演讲的起草工作于周日开始。总统的高级助手之一迈克·多尼隆帮助拜登构思了演讲稿。总统历史学家乔恩·米查姆和白宫演讲撰稿人维奈·雷迪也参与了演讲。
拜登现在有六个月的时间来巩固他引以为豪的政绩，但这在民主党选民中并没有引起太大反响，他们早已在民意调查中表达了对他的年龄和工作能力的担忧。在过去三年半的时间里，拜登努力修复与美国在西方盟友的紧张关系，通过了一系列具有里程碑意义的立法，并帮助带领美国走出了一场严重的疫情。
但拜登曾担任参议员 36 年，以在立法上找到妥协的能力而自豪，现在他几乎不抱希望兑现自己在从妇女权利到投票保护等问题上做出的未兑现的承诺。
最近几天，哈里斯在竞选活动中大放异彩，乘着民主党选民的希望和热情浪潮，而拜登总统任期的大部分时间里都没有这种希望和热情。尽管拜登承诺将积极竞选副总统，但他下周的日程安排仍然相对清晰，除了周一前往德克萨斯州奥斯汀，在总统林登·约翰逊的总统图书馆发表演讲——约翰逊是最后一位决定不竞选连任的民主党总统。
拜登还面临来自共和党人的巨大压力——包括特朗普的新竞选搭档、俄亥俄州参议员 JD Vance——他们认为，如果他认为自己无法连任第二任期，就必须辞职。
白宫新闻秘书卡琳娜·让-皮埃尔在周三的新闻发布会上表示，拜登不会辞职，事实上，她仍然相信拜登在第二任期四年后能够履行职责。
他在椭圆形办公室里没有说这些。相反，他反复表示，他把国家的利益放在政治抱负之前。
“没有什么能阻挡我们拯救民主，”拜登说。“包括个人野心。”
拜登发表讲话后，走进玫瑰园，数十名欢呼的白宫官员在那里等候。
本文最初发表于《纽约时报》。
题图：拜登总统退出 2024 年大选后向全国发表讲话。
附原英文报道：
Biden says it is time to step aside for a fresh, younger voice
By Katie Rogers New York Times,Updated July 25, 2024
President Biden delivered an Oval Office address Wednesday, speaking to Americans about his legacy as president and the decision to end his reelection bid.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden told the American public in an Oval Office address Wednesday that he had abandoned his reelection campaign because there is “a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices — yes, younger voices.”
His words, lasting 11 minutes in all, were the first extensive ones from Biden since his decision to step aside and expanded on his initial announcement, delivered in a post on social media Sunday, that he was dropping out of the race. His tone was wistful, and his speech was an early farewell.
“It’s been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years,” he said
Sitting behind the Resolute Desk and surrounded by photos of his family, Biden ticked through the accomplishments of his term, ranging from the choice of the first Black woman to be a Supreme Court justice to pulling the country out of a paralyzing pandemic. He expressed gratitude to the American people for allowing a “kid with a stutter” from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to reach the pinnacle of American politics.
Just beyond the camera, dozens of aides and several members of his family, including Jill Biden, the first lady, watched as Joe Biden said he would walk away from the office they had worked to help him reach for decades.
“I revere this office,” he said, “but I love my country more.”
Ultimately, Biden said, he concluded that “the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation.” The president praised Vice President Kamala Harris — “she’s experienced; she’s tough; she’s capable” — but warned, as he has for years, that Americans faced a choice between preserving democracy and allowing it to backslide.
“History is in your hands,” Biden said. “The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands. We just have to keep faith, keep the faith, and remember who we are.”
Biden, who spent the first part of the week recovering from COVID at his beach house in Delaware, spoke with a rasp and slight slur in his voice, speaking sometimes haltingly as he promised that he would defend his legacy and do what he could to help Harris win the election against former President Donald Trump. He stared straight ahead into the camera and seldom blinked.
“Over the next six months I will be focused on doing my job as president,” Biden said. “That means I will continue to lower costs for hardworking families, grow our economy. I will keep defending our personal freedoms and civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose.”
This speech was the fourth Oval Office address of Biden’s presidency and the second just this month. Ten days ago, Biden urged Americans to lower the political temperature after a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, wounding the former president and killing one of his supporters.
Other than saying it was time to pass the torch to someone young, Biden offered no other reason for his decision to step down. He did not mention the three-week pressure campaign from his own party to get him out of the race after his faltering and at times incoherent debate performance with Trump on June 27.
Biden and his advisers, aides said, still believed that he had a path to victory but that he had been unable to flip the focus from his debate showing back onto the policies espoused by Trump. His decision to turn the race over to Harris ultimately overrode some of his private concerns about her ability to be able to win in a general election.
The drafting of his Wednesday address began Sunday after Biden made the decision to drop out. Mike Donilon, one of the president’s senior aides, helped Biden fashion the remarks. Jon Meacham, the presidential historian, contributed to the speech, as well as Vinay Reddy, a White House speechwriter.
Biden now has six months to bolster a legacy that he is proud of but that gained little traction among Democratic voters, who had long registered their concerns in polls about his age and ability to do the job. Over the last 3 1/2 years, Biden worked to repair frayed relations with American allies in the West, passed a raft of landmark legislation and helped lead the country out of a crippling pandemic.
But Biden, a former senator who spent 36 years priding himself in his ability to find compromise on legislation, now has little hope to deliver on unfulfilled promises he has made on issues ranging from women’s rights to voting protections.
In recent days, Harris has blazed onto the campaign trail, surfing a wave of hope and enthusiasm from Democratic voters that was absent during much of Biden’s presidency. Though Biden has promised to campaign vigorously for the vice president, his schedule for next week remains relatively clear, beyond a trip to Austin, Texas, on Monday to speak at the presidential library of President Lyndon Johnson — the last Democratic president who decided not to seek reelection.
Biden is also facing heightened pressure from Republicans — including Trump’s new running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio — who argue that he must resign if he does not think he would be able to serve a second term.
In a press briefing Wednesday, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said that Biden would not resign and, in fact, still believes that he would be able to fulfill his duties four years into a second term.
He did not say any of that in the Oval Office. Instead, he said repeatedly that he had put the good of the country before his political aspirations.
“Nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy,” Biden said. “That includes personal ambition.”
After Biden delivered his remarks, he stepped into the Rose Garden, where dozens of cheering White House officials awaited.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
