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奥巴马任期最后几个月
With little time left in office, President Obama has been aggressively pushing through controversial legislation, like the Iran Nuclear Deal and Immigration Reform. Many presidents in their final terms pull back and avoid intense political issues, or use the opportunity to achieve their most idealistic goals. PresidentObama has been accused of both, as a Lame Duck president. So what is a Lame Duck? And does Obama fit the BILL?
由于任期时间所剩无几，奥巴马总统积极努力地推行一些有争议的立法，比如伊朗核协议和移民改革。许多总统在最后的任期总会妥协，避免棘手的政治问题，或者利用这个机会来完成最理想的目标。奥巴马在这两点上都饱受指控，被称为“跛鸭总统”。那么，什么是“跛鸭”呢？奥巴马总统符合特征吗？
Well, a “Lame Duck” is an elected official who won’t be re-elected to office, but still must serve out the remainder of their term.The label applies to any second term president,but is especially relevant after an opposing candidate wins the election. From that time until the new Candidate takes over in January,
a Lame Duck president has just a few months to wrap up their plans. Usually this isn’t long enough to get anything else significant done, and so other officials are less interested in working with them.
“跛鸭”指的是已当选但是不会再次当选的官员，但是仍然要服完剩下的任期。这个标签适用于任何连任第二任期的总统，但是如果反对派的候选人赢得选举，则更确切了。从这时起直至新的候选人在1月份当选，“跛鸭总统”只有几个月的时间来完成自己的计划。通常这段时间不够完成任何重要的事情，所以其他官员对于合作不会很感兴趣。
The label, “lame duck” first emerged in the 18th century as a reference to a person weakened by debt. But by the 19th century,the term’s meaning morphed to apply to elected officials who were politically weakened by their approaching term limits.
“跛鸭”这个标签首次于18世纪出现，指的是债务累累的人。但是到了19世纪，这个词的意思开始用于任何任期即将结束的官员。
An example of a politically weak lame duck president is Herbert Hoover in the 1930s. He couldn’t improve depression-era conditions at the end of his term because everyone was waiting instead for FDR’s federal overhaul.As a result, the American economy languished,and Hoover was widely hated during his time as a lame duck.
政治势力开始削弱的“跛鸭总统”的一个例子就是上世纪30年代的赫伯特·胡佛。他在任期结束时难以改善大萧条的经济状况，因为每个人都在等待富兰克林· 德拉诺·罗斯福的联邦整改。美国经济停滞，胡佛被国民憎恨，被称为“跛鸭总统”。
However, in modern times, lame duck presidents have found ways to use the position to their advantage. They have great power to make unpopular decisions since they’re not seeking re-election.President Obama has been using this role to ambitiously pursue democratic policy changes and to leave a lasting legacy.
然而，在现代，“跛鸭总统”找到了充分利用优势的方法。他们有很大的能力来做出不受欢迎的决定，因为他们不再寻求竞选连任。奥巴马总统利用这一优势雄心勃勃地追求民主政治改革，并希望留下持久的精神财产。
In fact, Obama has been so successful as a lame duck president that some suggest he’s completely redefining the label. In his second term, he’s been behind several victories for liberal policies including the Affordable Healthcare Act, Immigration reform and Same Sex Marriage. He’s also been on “the offense”
towards the Republican-dominated congress.
实际上，奥巴马作为“跛鸭总统”非常成功，一些人甚至认为他完全重新定义了这一标签。在他的第二任期内，他促成了几大自由政策的成功，包括平价医疗法案，移民改革和同性婚姻。他还在努力抗争民主党占主导地位的国会。
Though his use of the presidential veto has been infrequent, he’s recently threatened to use it to defend Climate Change legislation,and deny the Keystone Pipeline. Obama has also facilitated the congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement,and he’s been instrumental in increased diplomatic ties towards Cuba and Iran. In the past few years he’s aggressively defended his legislation with unheard of success for a lame duck president.
尽管他不经常使用总统否决权，然而最近他威胁使用该权利来捍卫气候变化立法，并否决基石输油管项目。奥巴马还促使国会通过了跨太平洋伙伴关系协议。他还在增加美国与古巴和伊朗的外交关系方面发挥了重要作用。过去几年，他积极进取推行立法，作为“跛鸭总统”取得了前所未有的成功。
