【中美创新时报2024 年 10 月 29 日编译讯】(记者温友平编译)在周二的竞选结束演讲中,副总统卡马拉·哈里斯选择了一个旨在与她和唐纳德·特朗普在选举日前一周形成最鲜明对比的场景。《波士顿环球报》记者Jim Puzzanghera对此作了下述报道。
她本可以在七个战场州中的任何一个发表重要演讲。如果她想在首都发表演讲,她可以选择历史悠久的地点。但哈里斯特别选择了白宫南边的椭圆形草坪——这正是特朗普参加臭名昭著的 2021 年 1 月 6 日集会的地点,该集会引发了数百名支持者对国会大厦的暴力袭击,试图推翻他的选举失败。
以白宫为戏剧性背景,她利用这一场景将自己对国家的愿景与前总统的愿景进行了鲜明区分。
“唐纳德·特朗普花了十年时间试图让美国人民分裂,互相恐惧。这就是他。但美国,我今晚在这里要说:这不是我们,”哈里斯说。“美国,我们知道唐纳德·特朗普的想法。更多的混乱。更多的分裂。以及帮助那些最顶层的人而伤害其他所有人的政策。我提供一条不同的道路。我请求你们投票。”
但即使特朗普是首要考虑因素,哈里斯面临的挑战是形成对比,而不将对话控制权让给前总统。
在希拉里·克林顿 2016 年败选后,一些民主党人认为她在竞选的最后阶段过于关注特朗普。就在几天前,支持哈里斯的主要超级政治行动委员会 Future Forward 提出了担忧,认为将焦点集中在特朗普的性格上并不是最有效的结束语。周日,特朗普在纽约市举行集会,演讲者大肆散布种族主义和性别歧视言论,其中一位喜剧演员称波多黎各是“漂浮的垃圾岛”,这进一步加剧了民主党人对他性格的不满。
特朗普的竞选团队周日晚间发表声明称,对波多黎各的评论并不反映他或他的竞选团队的观点。但特朗普周二拒绝为此道歉,他告诉美国广播公司,他不认识这位喜剧演员,也没有听到这些言论,这些言论在过去两天占据了竞选报道的主导地位。在周二对哈里斯讲话的预辩中,特朗普猛烈抨击了她担任副总统期间的政策,同时称纽约市集会是“一场绝对的爱情盛宴”。
在争取选民支持时,哈里斯重申了她在堕胎权、经济和移民等问题上的政策。她提出了几项承诺,包括“寻求共同点和常识性解决方案,让你们的生活更美好”,并倾听专家和不同意她观点的人的意见。
“不到 90 天,唐纳德·特朗普或我将入主白宫。如果当选,第一天唐纳德·特朗普就会带着一份敌人名单走进办公室,”哈里斯说。“当选后,我会带着一份待办事项清单走进办公室。上面列满了我要为美国人民做些什么的优先事项。”
最重要的是,哈里斯承诺“要做一个为所有美国人服务的总统,永远把国家置于政党和自我之上。”
支持者在演讲前几个小时聚集在椭圆形草坪上,预计演讲将吸引至少 2 万人参加,喧闹的集会气氛蔓延到宪法大道和国家广场。靠近入口的街道上的小贩兜售哈里斯的 T 恤和帽子。集会者挥舞着小美国国旗和美国标志,他们一起唱歌,而 DJ 则播放着嘻哈音乐和“灵魂列车”和“基督教青年会”等经典歌曲,在十月下旬的一个温暖的夜晚。
音乐、标语和发光手环都发给了所有与会者,让这场活动有了一种大会演讲的感觉。但与今年夏天在芝加哥发表的获奖感言不同,哈里斯并没有专注于自己的传记。现在选民们对她更加熟悉了,她主要着眼于未来而不是过去。
“是时候停止指责了。我们必须停止指责,开始携手合作。是时候翻开戏剧和冲突、恐惧和分裂的一页了,”她说。“现在是美国新一代领导人上台的时候了。我已经准备好以美国下一任总统的身份提供这种领导力。”
在人群深处,一些抗议加沙战争的人试图打断哈里斯的演讲。但在他们被护送出去时,他们的呼声被“卡玛拉”或“美国”的呼声淹没了。
哈里斯竞选官员表示,此次演讲的目的是将她所谓的“乐观和充满希望的信息”与特朗普“散播分裂和仇恨”的策略进行对比,这场在民意调查中势均力敌的竞选即将结束。
哈里斯竞选主席 Jen O’Malley Dillon 告诉记者:“我们非常专注于确保我们尽一切努力接触仍在拿定主意的选民,并确保他们直接听到副总统的声音。”
她说,决定在椭圆形草坪上发表演讲并非偶然。
“我们相信,这个地方肯定有助于在这次选举中明确选择唐纳德·特朗普这个寻求不受制约权力的候选人,还是另一个真正提供真正解决方案以规划新前进道路的候选人,”奥马利·狄龙说。
哈里斯在演讲中提到了 1 月 6 日的叛乱,指责特朗普“不稳定、沉迷于报复、充满怨恨、追求不受制约的权力”。
“他说他的首要任务之一是释放 1 月 6 日袭击执法人员的暴力极端分子,”哈里斯说。“唐纳德·特朗普打算使用美国军队对付那些不同意他意见的美国公民。他称这些人为‘内部敌人’。这不是一个想着如何让你的生活更美好的总统候选人。”
演讲结束后,竞选官员表示,哈里斯将在竞选的最后冲刺阶段访问所有七个战场州,从周三的宾夕法尼亚州、北卡罗来纳州和威斯康星州开始。
题图:民主党总统候选人副总统卡马拉·哈里斯周二在华盛顿白宫附近的椭圆形草坪举行的竞选活动上发表讲话前做出了反应。Jacquelyn Martin/美联社
附原英文报道:
Harris delivers her closing campaign argument from a spot chosen to draw a sharp contrast with Trump
By Jim Puzzanghera Globe Staff,Updated October 29, 2024
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris reacted before speaking during a campaign event at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington on Tuesday.Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press
WASHINGTON — For her closing campaign argument Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris chose a setting designed to draw the starkest possible contrast between her and Donald Trump a week before Election Day.
She could have given the major speech in any of seven battleground states. And if she wanted to deliver it in the nation’s capital, she had her pick of historic locations. But Harris specifically chose the Ellipse just south of the White House — the exact spot where Trump attended the infamous Jan. 6, 2021, rally that launched hundreds of his supporters on a violent attack on the Capitol building in an attempt to overturn his election loss.
And with the White House as a dramatic backdrop, she used the setting to make a sharp distinction between her vision for the country and the former president’s.
“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That’s who he is. But America, I am here tonight to say: that’s not who we are,” Harris said. “America, we know what Donald Trump has in mind. More chaos. More division. And policies that help those at the very top and hurt everyone else. I offer a different path. And I ask for your vote. ”
But even with Trump top of mind, Harris’s challenge was to draw a contrast without ceding control of the conversation to the former president.
After Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016, some Democrats thought she focused too much on Trump in the campaign’s homestretch. And just a few days ago, Future Forward, a major super PAC supporting Harris, raised concerns that zeroing in on Trump’s character was not the most effective closing message. Trump gave Democrats more fuel on his character Sunday with a rally in New York City that included speakers spewing racist and sexist attacks, including a comedian who called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.”
Trump’s campaign issued a statement Sunday night saying the Puerto Rico comment didn’t reflect his or his campaign’s views. But Trump declined to apologize for it Tuesday, telling ABC that he didn’t know the comedian and hadn’t heard the remarks, which have dominated campaign coverage the past two days. In a prebuttal Tuesday to Harris’s address, Trump ripped into her policies as vice president while calling the New York City rally “an absolute lovefest.”
In making her pitch for their votes, Harris reiterated her policies on issues like abortion rights, the economy and immigration. She offered several pledges, including “to seek common ground and common sense solutions to make your lives better,” and to listen to experts and people who disagree with her.
“In less than 90 days, either Donald Trump or I will be in the Oval Office. On Day One, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list,” Harris said. “When elected, I will walk in with a to-do list. Full of priorities on what I will get done for the American people.”
Above all, Harris pledged “to be a president for all Americans, to always put country above party and above self.”
Supporters gathered on the Ellipse hours before the speech, which was expected to draw at least 20,000 people, in a raucous rally atmosphere that spilled across Constitution Avenue onto the National Mall. Vendors on the streets approaching the entrance hawked Harris T-shirts and hats. Rallygoers waved small American flags and USA signs as they sang along while a DJ blasted music, including hip-hop and oldies like “Soul Train” and “YMCA” on a warm late October evening.
With the music, signs, and illuminated bracelets given to all the attendees, the event had the feel of a convention address. But unlike in her acceptance speech in Chicago this summer, Harris did not focus on her biography. With voters more familiar with her now, she looked mostly forward and not backward.
“It is time to stop pointing fingers. We have to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms. It is time to turn the page on the drama and the conflict, the fear and division,” she said. “It is time for a new generation of leadership in America. And I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States.”
Deep in the crowd, some people protesting the war in Gaza tried to disrupt Harris’s speech. But they were drowned out by chants of “Kamala” or “USA” as they were escorted out.
Harris campaign officials said the goal of the speech was to contrast what they called her “optimistic and hopeful message” with Trump’s strategy of “sowing division and hate” in a race that is neck-and-neck in the polls heads to its finish.
“We are very focused on making sure we’re doing everything in our power to reach the voters that are still making up their mind and making sure they hear directly from the vice president,” Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told reporters.
The decision to hold the speech on the Ellipse was no accident, she said.
“It’s a place that certainly, we believe, helps crystallize the choice in this election between a candidate seeking unchecked power in Donald Trump and another that’s really offering real solutions to chart a new way forward,” O’Malley Dillon said.
In her speech, Harris referenced the Jan. 6 insurrection as she accused Trump of being “unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and out for unchecked power.”
“He says one of his highest priorities is to set free the violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers on January 6,” Harris said. “Donald Trump intends to use the United States military against American citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls — quote, ’the enemy from within.’ This is not a candidate for president who is thinking about how to make your life better.”
After the speech, campaign officials said Harris was set to hit all seven battleground states in the campaign’s homestretch, starting with stops in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin on Wednesday.