“海水”奥巴马 “火焰”麦凯恩

   链接：http://blog.stnn.cc/StBlogPageMain/Efp_BlogLogKan.aspx?cBlogLog=1002213237

   2008年9月27日美国《新闻周刊》的封面故事标题为“冷先生VS热先生”。这是性情的差异，简直就是“一半是海水，一半是火焰”的美国版本。内文“The Vices of Their Virtues（两个家伙优点中的缺陷）”中有很多值得一读的细节，我摘录下来，可供美国大选以后进行总结。

   1 约翰·麦凯恩的急脾气，要么令人抓狂，要么让人不安；巴拉克·奥巴马的冷静，要么让人镇定，要么令人感到隔阂。由此，两个人如何治理国家，将变得清晰可见。（John McCain's impetuosity is either thrilling or disturbing. Barack Obama's cool is either sober or detached. It's clear now how each would govern.）

   2 关于世界，麦凯恩、奥巴马，仁者见仁，智者见智。你能目睹这种仁智之别。他们按照各自的肤色在行事，你们能看到这种差异。或许，成熟期的喜剧，将为我们带来渴望已久的最华丽结局，由此，一个人如何治理国家将有目共睹。麦凯恩充满激情，有时很冲动，进而不可预测；奥巴马行事精确，偶尔会退缩，不过他做事往往讲究方式方法。（McCain and Obama see the world differently, and you can see how; they behave in their own skins differently, and you can see how. The drama of the autumn has served perhaps the noblest end we could hope for, shedding light on how each man would govern. McCain is passionate, sometimes impulsive and unpredictable; Obama is precise, occasionally withdrawn and methodical.）

   3 倘若投票人视奥巴马为愤怒的黑人，这将是他无力消受的。（Obama cannot afford to be seen by voters as an Angry Black Man.）

   4 麦凯恩在其新书《艰难抉择》中描述了他最后一次在河内执行空中任务时的细节。当时，他听到敌军使用萨姆地对空导弹的警报声，那枚导弹正好锁定了他所控制的战机。要么是勇敢，要么是显得草率，麦凯恩并未采取躲避的措施，而是朝着敌军飞去，试图对对方目标实施空袭。敌军导弹击中了战机的右翼，由此，他在河内被俘了五年。在后来的年月里，尤其是在政治圈内，麦凯恩学会了“走为上策”或是假动作。但是，有时他仍表现出令人尊敬，或是仅仅是有勇无谋的任性。（In his most recent book, "Hard Choices," McCain describes how, on his last bombing mission over Hanoi, he heard the warning tone of an enemy SAM missile locking on to his plane. Bravely, or rashly, McCain did not take evasive maneuvers but rather kept on flying straight in an attempt to deliver his bombs on target. The missile blew off his right wing, and he spent the next five years in captivity. Over the subsequent years, mostly spent in politics, McCain has learned to "jink and juke," in pilots' parlance, but he sometimes still demonstrates a willfulness that can be admirable, or just foolhardy.）

    5 在过去的两周时间，麦凯恩一会飞扑，一会儿又突然转向，这足够导致他的崇拜者们一阵眩晕。他一开始说，整个经济的基本面是结实的，当被奥巴马讥笑为荒谬后，他改口宣称整个经济陷入全面危机中。他以愤怒的民粹主义者的语气，指责华尔街和监管者，并建议成立一个911式的委员会去调查这一切出了什么错。麦凯恩还说，如果他是总统，他将解雇证交会主席克里斯·考克斯。后来获知总统布什不会炒证交会头儿的鱿鱼后，麦凯恩宣称考克斯是一个好人，然而还是呼吁其离职。（Watching McCain swoop and veer over the past two weeks has been enough to induce vertigo, even among his admirers. He began by saying that the "fundamentals" of the economy were "strong" and then, ridiculed by Obama, declared that the economy was "in total crisis." He took an angry populist tone against Wall Street and the regulators and proposed a 9/11-style commission to investigate what had gone wrong. He said if he were president, he would fire SEC Chairman Chris Cox. Informed that the president cannot fire the head of the SEC, McCain pronounced Cox to be a "good man," while still calling for his resignation.）

    6 与此同时，针对危机的表态，奥巴马掌握了分寸，举例说明在整个救市计划中必须考虑的原则，而不是对为什么救市做出一堆解释。自始至终，他同财长保尔森的谈话是心平气和的，逐渐地，前者喜欢上了这位财长，以致于奥巴马告诉CNBC他正考虑，至少在这个转型期内，还是应该让保尔森留任。（Obama, meanwhile, kept his statements about the crisis measured, citing principles that should be taken into account in any bailout package but not offering a grand explanation for why one was needed. Throughout, he was quietly talking to Hank Paulson on a daily basis and grew to like Bush's Treasury secretary so much that he told CNBC he was thinking of keeping him on for at least a transition period.）