2007年VOA标准英语-Iraq Differences Continue to Define US Presiden

By Jim Malone
Washington
29 March 2007

The political showdown over the war in Iraq between President Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress has become a defining issue in the early stages of the 2008 U.S. presidential election campaign.  VOA national correspondent Jim Malone reports from Washington. 

The differing views on Iraq between the president and congressional Democrats¹ are also being reflected daily on the presidential campaign trail.

The Democratic presidential contenders support various troop withdrawal² proposals that would force a redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq next year.

 
(From left) Democratic Senators Harry³ Reid, Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden after Iraq vote
Anti-war rhetoric⁴ dominated the speeches of several Democratic candidates who recently addressed a convention of construction union workers in Washington.

Among them was Delaware Senator Joe Biden.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this war must end," said Senator Biden.  "This war must end and it must end soon!"

At times, Democrats compete with each other to see which candidate has opposed the war the longest.

 
Democratic presidential hopeful US Sen. Barack Obama in Oakland, California
"I am proud of the fact that in 2002, I stood up and said this is a bad idea, that this is a war that should not have been authorized⁵ and should not have been waged," said Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

Obama is running second in the polls to New York Senator Hillary Clinton.  Clinton supports a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq but so far has refused to say her vote authorizing⁶ the war in 2002 was a mistake, unlike some of her Democratic rivals.

Stuart Rothenberg publishes a non-partisan political newsletter in Washington.

"There is an effort on the Democratic side to show that each of these candidates was the most critical of the president, or in some cases that they were the earliest critics of the president, or that they have been the most vociferous⁷ critics of the president," he said.

There is much more support for President Bush's war strategy among the Republican presidential contenders.

The most aggressive supporter of the new troop surge strategy is Arizona Senator John McCain, a fierce critic of Democratic efforts to set a deadline for troop withdrawal.

 
Senator John McCain (R)
"We are making progress and we can succeed with this new strategy," said Senator McCain.  "To hamstring and to announce that we are leaving is one of the most shameful⁸ things I have ever seen."

McCain trails former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the latest opinion polls.  Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt⁹ Romney is third among active candidates, though former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson also scores well among Republican voters.  Thompson says he is considering joining the race later this year.

Another potential contender is Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel.  Hagel has emerged as perhaps the top Republican critic of the Bush strategy on Iraq.

 
Sen. Chuck Hagel speaks at a news conference regarding his political future in Omaha, Nebraska, 12 March 2007
"This idea that somehow you do not support the troops if you do not continue, in a lemming like way, to accept whatever this administration's policy is, that is what is wrong," said Senator Hagel.

Hagel is one of only two Republican Senators to support a Democratic plan to set a troop withdrawal deadline as part of an emergency spending bill for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

President Bush says he will veto the bill if it contains the withdrawal deadlines, which have been approved by narrow margins¹⁰ in both the House and Senate.

Political experts question how much success Senator Hagel would have as a war critic in a Republican presidential field dominated by supporters of the current military strategy in Iraq.

John Fortier is a political analyst¹¹ at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

"The three big [Republican] candidates are very supportive of Bush and the surge and the war," he explained.  "He [Hagel] would look a little bit different, but even if the war is unpopular generally, which it is, it is still relatively¹² popular in Republican circles and I am not sure that he is going to get that much traction¹³ in this field."

Iraq is by no means the only issue in the early stage of the campaign.  Candidates from both parties spend a lot of time talking about their views on health care, immigration, the threat of terrorism and U.S. foreign policy in general.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

5 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

6 authorizing   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Letters of Marque: Take letters from a warning friendly power authorizing privateering. 私掠许可证：从某一个国家获得合法抢劫的证书。
• Formal phavee completion does not include authorizing the subsequent phavee. 阶段的正式完成不包括核准随后的阶段。

7 vociferous   

adj.喧哗的，大叫大嚷的

参考例句：

• They are holding a vociferous debate.他们在吵吵嚷嚷地辩论。
• He was a vociferous opponent of Conservatism.他高声反对保守主义。

8 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

9 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

10 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

12 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

13 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。