Nico Colombant | Washington

一本在美国发行的新书，探讨了美国总统奥巴马父亲的动荡一生。奥巴马父亲的全名也叫巴拉克·奥巴马。这本新书的美籍作者萨莉·雅各布斯说，虽然他们父子俩很少在一起，她还是发现两人之间不少相同之处。
A new book published in the United States investigates the turbulent life of the U.S. president's Kenyan father, also named Barack Obama.  American author Sally Jacobs says even though the father and son spent very little time together, she found many similarities between them.

这本书名是“另一个奥巴马”。副题是“奥巴马总统父亲粗狂不羁的一生”。
The book is called The Other Barack. The subtitle is The Bold and Reckless Life of President Obama's Father.  Barack Obama Sr. saw very little of his son after his birth in the U.S. Pacific state of Hawaii in 1961.

奥巴马总统1961年在夏威夷出生之后，老奥巴马就很少见过他。老奥巴马于1962年离开夏威夷，前往美国东部麻萨诸塞州的哈佛大学就读。1964年，他回到非洲的肯尼亚。The father left Hawaii in 1962 to attend Harvard University in the northeastern state of Massachusetts, and then went back to Kenya in 1964.


1971年，老奥巴马又回到夏威夷，不过只停留了一个月。那也是他最后一次看见后来成为美国有史以来第一位非裔总统的儿子。The elder Obama returned to Hawaii for a month-long visit in 1971, the last time he would see the young boy who would become the first African-American president.



作者萨莉·雅各布斯说，即使如此，她还能从儿子奥巴马总统身上，看出她在父亲身上发现的特点。


雅各布斯说：“一部分来自遗传。两人都特别机智。我觉得不论你的政治立场是什么，你都不能否认我们现任总统的这一特点。两人都在各自的时代里，参与了政治。”

The author of the book, Sally Jacobs, says she still sees much of what she found out about the father in the son. "Part of it is just raw DNA. Both of them are extremely intelligent. Whatever your politics, I think it is hard to argue that about our current president. Both of them were extremely involved in the politics of their day," Jacobs said.



她说，他们两人也同样受到从小父亲不再身边的痛苦。
She says they also both suffered from having an absent parent.

*父子皆具协调能力*

1965年，老奥巴马为“东非纪闻”写了一篇有关经济事务的论文，受到非洲学者的高度赞赏。在这篇文章里，老奥巴马强调新独立国家应该更专注于如何使他们的资源有益于社会，而不是如何靠这些资源去牟利。
An economics paper the elder Barack Obama wrote in 1965 for the East Africa Journal has been highly praised by Africa scholars since it stressed newly independent countries should focus more on how resources would benefit society rather than the amount of profits these generated.

他对当时肯尼亚总统乔莫·肯雅塔的政策持批评态度，并且也吸收了肯尼亚副总统奥廷加的主张。这项行动，使雅各布斯想起了奥巴马总统经常采取的做法。
His views were critical of the policies of Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta and incorporated ideas of Vice-President Oginga Odinga.  His maneuverings remind Jacobs of the approach she says the U.S president often takes.

雅各布斯说：“他是要把1965年代肯尼亚政坛上左翼的奥廷加，和右翼的肯雅塔的两极立场聚拢起来。老奥巴马想做的，是把他们极端不同的政见聚合在一起。这一点上，他并不很成功。但是他投身于这项努力，这和奥巴马总统在有关经济问题的协商中充当调停人的做法，如出一辙。”
"He is trying to pull together these sort of polarized aspects of Kenyan politics of the time in 1965 between Oginga Odinga on the left and Jomo Kenyatta on the right. And Obama Sr. was really trying to bring together their rather extreme views.  He was not very successful but that was how he cast himself in much the same way that our current president is casting himself as a mediator on the two different ends of our conversations about economics," Jacobs said.


书中还提到一些有关老奥巴马的资料， 比如在老奥巴马的移民资料中有一份备忘录显示他曾考虑将儿子给人领养，以及哈佛大学如何不顾他的优良成绩强迫他退学，回到肯尼亚。
Revelations in the book include how the elder Obama's immigration files in the United States include a memo saying that putting Barack Obama up for adoption was briefly considered as well as how Harvard University forced him out and back to Kenya, despite his good grades.

雅各布斯说：“老奥巴马通过了所有经济学方面的考试。唯一还没有提出的是论文。其实他已经开始着手了。他已定好题目，并且有了概念。可是哈佛当局开始听说，他好像有两个妻子。他们甚至担心他会不会还有第三个。同时，他有了财务上的困难，所以哈佛大学打算强迫他离开。他们一直没有明白告诉他为什么，只说他们没有足够的经费来资助他。这对老奥巴马来说，是一个关键性的时刻。我想，那时他真的伤透了心，他因此没能修到博士学位。”
"He had passed all of his exams in economics. All he had left was to write his dissertation. He had even started that. He had a title and even an idea.  Harvard became aware that he had possibly two wives. They were concerned he had a third and they did not like it.  He also had financial troubles and so they basically forced him to leave.  They had never really told him why, just that they did not have enough money for him. It was a critical moment for Obama Sr. I think it really broke his heart that he never got that PhD," Jacobs said.

回到肯尼亚后，老奥巴马又有了几名儿女。一般相信他一共有八名子女。其中四名都写了关于他的书，包括奥巴马总统于1995年出版的“来自父亲的梦想”。
Back in Kenya, Obama senior continued to have more children. It is believed he had a total of eight, four of whom wrote a book about him, including President Obama's Dreams from My Father, published in 1995.

肯尼亚独立之后，老奥巴马有了一份不错的工作。但是他一直希望更高的职位。这本书形容他工作表现出众，但总不安于位。特别在工作以外时间，他既酗酒又玩女人。他还因饮酒而发生过几次严重车祸。

The elder Obama got prominent jobs in post-independent Kenya, but always wanted a higher position. The book describes him as brilliant at work but erratic in and especially out of the office, where he was a womanizer and heavy drinker, who had a series of serious car crashes.


1982年，他死于车祸。 终生遗憾于他的潜能没有充分发挥。更没有想到的是，他的子女中，有一名会成为美国总统。

He died in a car crash in 1982, never feeling he had lived up to his potential and never knowing one of his sons would become president of the United States.