Opinion 14:38, 21-Jan-2022

Biden's self-stymieing presidency

Radhika Desai

这篇文章主要分析了biden总统任期内的一些失败的政策等等，时政新闻类的专有词汇较多。

stymie  vt. 从中作梗，阻挠；妨碍 这里是说biden总统任期内的自作自受行为作茧自缚

U.S. President Joe Biden took office a year ago after the most bitterly fought presidential campaign in memory. The contestation of its result culminated in an assault on Capitol Hill, evoking fears of civil war and fascism. Understandably, Biden's inaugural speech had to urge a rattled nation to "join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature" and unite.

【词语解释和扩展】

take office 就职

culminate  v. （以……）结束，告终；到达顶点，达到高潮；

civil war 这个指的是美国内战，也就是南北战争

fascism  这个大家都懂，指的是二战反法西斯主义战争

这一句指的的是biden在艰苦斗争后成功的宣誓就职。这一系列争议爆发在国会山暴乱后达到顶点，唤醒了民众对于内战和法西斯主义的恐惧。于是迫使biden在就职演说中不断地提到了团结。rattled nation 非常形象的表达了一个濒临土崩瓦解的状态

A year later, three things are clear. First, the Biden presidency is stymied. Its list of failures extends from the embarrassment of the Alaska meeting to the disaster of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, from the stalled vaccine campaign to the renewed threat to U.S. women's abortion rights, from climate agenda held hostage to the oil lobby to a foreign policy agenda captured by the military industrial complex.

Second, while Biden's less than dynamic, uncharismatic leadership and his political debt to the billionaires who funded his elections are important factors, the U.S.'s partisan division, which he failed to overcome or soften, is arguably the proximate reason. With the Republican Party remaining firmly in Donald Trump's grip, not only is bipartisanship difficult if not impossible, under its pull on "moderate" Democrats like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema also resist Biden's agenda.

Third, this division is not just about Republican and Trumpian obduracy. The Democrats' equal if not greater commitment to neoliberalism has produced and maintained the economic and social divisions on which it is built. Trump may have harnessed a strong and unwavering minority of its discontents to a right wing and divisive agenda.

【词语解释和扩展】

biden领导不利主要原因有三，一个是biden各种对内对外政策推行不利，全都是理想很丰满，显示很骨感，并且无法调和两党之间的矛盾，而且民主党提出的新自由主义也在以往分裂的基础上进一步造成了经济和社会的分裂。

partisan adj. （对个别人、团体或思想）偏袒的，盲目拥护的；游击战的

bipartisan adj. 两党连立的；代表两党的

obduracy n. 执拗；冷酷；顽固

However, he would not have been able to do so had Biden and the Democrats abandoned neoliberalism and galvanized the majority of those who have paid the price of neoliberal policies. The sad reality is that Biden received the highest number of votes for any president not by mobilizing people but by outspending Trump by about a third. The total 2020 election spending is nearly $14 billion, which is more than double of 2016's sum. This reliance on short-circuiting the political process with big money is what makes the Biden presidency not just stymied but also self-stymieing. 

The political frustration is real. Biden's planned $3.5 trillion American Families Plan remains frustrated even after being whittled down to $1.75 trillion. Even his infrastructure plan – and infrastructure bills have a history of broad bipartisan support – had to be nearly halved from $2.3 trillion to $1.2 trillion to pass and did so with less bipartisanship than any other. His voter rights bill, designed to reduce voter suppression, particularly of African American voters, is stalled.

【词语解释和扩展】

galvanize vt. 镀锌；通电；刺激

outspend  v. 开支比……更大，花费超过……  biden竞选总统比trump多支出了三分之一的费用

whittle down v. 削减，削弱

No wonder Biden's press conference to mark the first year of his presidency was so underwhelming. His delivery was just as stilted. His claims about how well his fight against the pandemic was going and how well the economy was doing were clearly based on cherry-picked evidence. However, what came across particularly loudly was how resoundingly he had failed on his unity agenda. Biden repeatedly attacked the Republican abandonment of bipartisanship and alleged that, lacking a positive agenda, they were animated only by a determination to obstruct his legislative efforts.  

Given the real possibility that the Democrats may lose control of Congress to Trump's Republicans in the November mid-term elections, Biden proposed to mount a greater personal public relations effort, to bring in outside experts and to campaign.

【词语解释和扩展】

overwhelming  adj. 难以抗拒的，令人不知所措的；巨大的，压倒性的

underwhelming  adj. 未给人留下深刻印象的；未激起人们热情的

stilted adj. 不自然的；呆板的；僵硬的

cherry-picked vt. 择优挑选

resoundingly adv. 成功地；轰动地

animate v. 使生动，使兴奋；

mid-term election 中期选举的日期大都在当年11月的第一个星期二举行。中期选举的实质是民主党和共和党争夺对国会的控制权。biden为了争取更多的公共关注，要争取增加外部专家。

However, these efforts can only backfire. Lacking charm, with his personal popularity lower at the one year mark than any postwar president except perhaps Gerald Ford, getting out and talking to people about this administration's "achievements" can only be counterproductive, particularly among working people, women and African Americans whose votes got him to power but whom his record has only betrayed. Outside experts can provide expertise but not the political will to address the economic and social divides that underlie the political ones. The will can only be smothered by Biden's reliance on big money for his elections. Finally, given Biden's dismal record, Democratic candidates in the Congressional elections could hardly be blamed for considering him a campaign liability.

【词语解释和扩展】

smother vt. 使窒息；抑制；（用灰等）闷熄；忍住 vi. 窒息；被抑制；闷死 n. 窒息状态；令人窒息的浓烟

dismal 差劲的，糟糕的

The U.S.' political divisions are rooted in economic policies to which both Republicans and Democrats remain committed. In the past, Democrats distinguished themselves by finding ways of throwing a few crumbs the way of America's working people and marginalized groups within the broader neoliberal consensus. However, the room for that is rapidly narrowing. The majority of mainstream commentators are already suggesting that the only way Biden can look less of a failure is to rein in his "overambitious" program, and correct his mistake of "overpromising." To reinforce this, many take the return of inflation to be the signal that government social spending must be curtailed.

This will prevent even the minimal healing of economic and social divides and entrench the political ones more firmly. President Biden's second year can only be more nightmarish than his first.

【词语解释和扩展】

root in 植根于，起因于

crumb n. 食物碎屑，面包（蛋糕）屑；点滴，少许；面包心；<北美，非正式>讨厌的人；

marginalize vt. 排斥；忽视；使处于社会边缘；使脱离社会发展进程

rein n. 缰绳；（成人牵引幼儿用的）安全绳套；控制，主宰 v. 用缰绳勒（马）使停步或放慢步子，勒（马）；控制住，约束

大多数主流评论员建议biden要脚踏实地，不要总是搞过于雄心勃勃的计划，承诺太多，否则适得其反，作茧自缚