特朗普当选曾令奥巴马自我怀疑：我们错了怎么办
WASHINGTON — Riding in a motorcade in Lima, Peru, shortly after the 2016 election, President Barack Obama was struggling to understand Donald J. Trump’s victory.
华盛顿——2016年大选结束后不久，在行进于秘鲁利马街头的车队里，贝拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)总统正在费力地思考为什么唐纳德·J·特朗普会获胜。
“What if we were wrong?” he asked aides riding with him in the armored presidential limousine.
“如果是我们错了怎么办？”他问和他一起坐在那辆防弹总统专车里的助手。
He had read a column asserting that liberals had forgotten how important identity was to people and had promoted an empty cosmopolitan globalism that made many feel left behind. “Maybe we pushed too far,” Mr. Obama said. “Maybe people just want to fall back into their tribe.”
他看过的一篇专栏文章声称，自由派忘记了身份对人们的重要性，他们宣扬的那种空洞的国际化全球主义，让很多人觉得自己被抛弃了。“也许我们用力过猛了，”奥巴马说。“也许人们只是想回归自己的群体。”
His aides reassured him that he still would have won had he been able to run for another term and that the next generation had more in common with him than with Mr. Trump. Mr. Obama, the first black man elected president, did not seem convinced. “Sometimes I wonder whether I was 10 or 20 years too early,” he said.
助手向他保证，如果能谋求连任他还是会赢，比起特朗普，下一代和他有更多共同语言。作为首位黑人总统，奥巴马似乎没有被说服。“有时我在想自己是不是早了10年或20年，”他说。
In the weeks after Mr. Trump’s election, Mr. Obama went through multiple emotional stages, according to a new book by his longtime adviser Benjamin J. Rhodes. At times, the departing president took the long view, at other points, he flashed anger. He called Mr. Trump a “cartoon” figure who cared more about his crowd sizes than any particular policy. And he expressed rare self-doubt, wondering whether he had misjudged his own influence on American history.
据长期担任其顾问的本杰明·J·罗兹(Benjamin J. Rhodes)的新书透露，在特朗普当选后的几周里，奥巴马的情绪经历了好几个阶段。有时候，这位即将离任的总统会着眼于长远。但有时候他也会表现出愤怒。他称特朗普是一个“卡通”人物，更关心自己的粉丝规模，而不是任何具体政策。他还表现出了少有的自我怀疑，想知道他是不是误判了自己对美国历史的影响。
Set to be published next week by Random House, Mr. Rhodes’s memoir, “The World as It Is,” offers a peek into Mr. Obama’s tightly sealed inner sanctum from the perspective of one of the few people who saw him up close through all eight years of his presidency. Few moments shook Mr. Obama more than the decision by voters to replace him with a candidate who had questioned his very birth.
罗兹这本回忆录叫《真实的世界》(The World as It Is)，定于下周由兰登书屋(Random House)出版。在奥巴马担任总统的八年里，罗兹是少数几个一直能够近距离接触到他的人之一。他从自己的视角介绍了奥巴马紧密戒备的内心世界。选民决定让一个质疑他的出生的候选人接替他，没有什么比这更让奥巴马震惊的了。
Mr. Rhodes served as Mr. Obama’s deputy national security adviser through some of the most consequential points of his presidency, including decisions to authorize the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, send more troops to Afghanistan, pull most troops out of Iraq, restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, seal a nuclear agreement with Iran, intervene militarily in Libya and refuse to intervene militarily in Syria.
罗兹以奥巴马的副国家安全顾问的身份，经历了他总统任期内的一些最重要的时刻，包括决定批准杀死奥萨马·本·拉登(Osama bin Laden)的突击行动，向阿富汗增兵，把主力部队撤出伊拉克，与古巴恢复外交关系，同伊朗达成核协议，军事干预利比亚和拒绝军事干预叙利亚。
But his book offers a new window, if only slightly cracked open, into the 44th president’s handling of Russia’s intervention in the 2016 election to help Mr. Trump get elected and the aftermath.
至于美国第44任总统如何处理俄罗斯为帮助特朗普当选而干预2016大选，并应对此事的后果，这本书也开启了一个新窗口，尽管只是一个略微打开的窗口。
In handing over power to someone determined to tear down all he had accomplished, Mr. Obama alluded to “The Godfather” mafia movie: “I feel like Michael Corleone. I almost got out.”
在把权力移交给一个决心废除他的所有成果的人时，奥巴马含蓄地提到了黑帮电影《教父》(The Godfather)：“我觉得自己像迈克尔·柯里昂(Michael Corleone)一样。我差一点就逃脱了。”
Mr. Rhodes describes the reaction of foreign leaders. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan apologized for breaching protocol by meeting with Mr. Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan after the election. Mr. Obama urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada to take on a more vocal role defending the values they shared.
罗兹描述了外国领导人的反应。日本首相安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)为在大选结束后违反外交礼节，与特朗普在曼哈顿的特朗普大厦(Trump Tower)会面而道歉。奥巴马敦促加拿大总理贾斯汀·特鲁多(Justin Trudeau)在捍卫他们共同的价值观上发挥更大的作用。
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany told Mr. Obama that she felt more obliged to run for another term because of Mr. Trump’s election to defend the liberal international order. When they parted for the final time, Ms. Merkel had a single tear in her eye. “She’s all alone,” Mr. Obama noted.
德国总理安格拉·默克尔(Angela Merkel)告诉奥巴马，由于特朗普的当选，她觉得更有义务谋求连任，以捍卫自由主义国际秩序。最后一次道别时，默克尔眼里含着泪水。“就剩她一个人了，”奥巴马说。
And yet despite criticism even from former advisers to Mr. Obama, Mr. Rhodes offers little sense that the former president thought he could have done more to counter Russian involvement in the election. Mr. Obama had authorized a statement to be issued by intelligence agency leaders a month before the election warning of Russian interference, but was thwarted from doing more because Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, refused to go along with a bipartisan statement.
然而，尽管遭到了甚至是奥巴马多位前顾问的指责，从罗兹的陈述来看，前总统不觉得在对抗俄罗斯介入一事上自己还能做些什么。奥巴马曾在大选的一个月前授权情报机构负责人发表一份声明，提醒选民注意俄罗斯的干预，但由于共和党领袖、肯塔基州参议员米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)拒绝发表两党联合声明，奥巴马未能采取更多行动。
Mr. Rhodes called Mr. McConnell’s refusal “staggeringly partisan and unpatriotic.” But Mr. Obama, whose Supreme Court nomination had been blocked by Mr. McConnell for months, seemed less surprised.
罗兹称麦康奈尔的拒绝“带着惊人的党派性，非常不爱国”。但奥巴马似乎没那么惊讶。在那之前，奥巴马的最高法院提名被麦康奈尔拦阻了几个月。
“What else did you expect from McConnell?” he asked. “He won’t even give us a hearing on Merrick Garland.”
“还能对麦康奈尔有什么指望?”他问道。“在梅里克·加兰德(Merrick Garland)的事情上他连听证会的机会都不给我们。”
Still, in preparatory sessions before meetings with the news media before the election, aides pressed Mr. Obama to respond to criticism that he should speak out more about Russian meddling. “I talk about it every time I’m asked,” he responded. “What else are we going to do? We’ve warned folks.”
但大选前，在会见新闻媒体前的筹备环节，助手催促奥巴马回应外界对他应多谈谈俄罗斯干预大选一事的指责。“每次被问到都谈，”他回答说。“我们还能做什么？我们已经警告过大家了。”
He noted that Mr. Trump was already claiming that the election would be manipulated if Hillary Clinton won. “If I speak out more, he’ll just say it’s rigged,” Mr. Obama said.
他指出，特朗普已经声称如果希拉里·克林顿(Hillary Clinton)获胜，选举就是被操纵了。“如果我再说，他只会说选举被操纵了，”奥巴马说。
Mr. Rhodes writes that neither he nor Mr. Obama knew at that time that there was an F.B.I. investigation into contacts between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia, despite Mr. Trump’s recent unsubstantiated claims that the departing president placed a “spy” or multiple spies in his campaign.
罗兹写道，他和奥巴马当时都不知道联邦调查局(FBI)在调查特朗普的竞选团队与俄罗斯之间的接触。但特朗普最近声称，即将离任的奥巴马在他的竞选团队里安插了一个或多个“间谍”。特朗普的说法未得到证实。
Mr. Rhodes writes he did not learn about the F.B.I. investigation until after leaving office, and then from the news media. Mr. Obama did not impose sanctions on Russia in retaliation for the meddling before the election because he believed it might prompt Moscow into hacking into Election Day vote tabulations. Mr. Obama did impose sanctions after the election but Mr. Rhodes’s suggestion that the targets include President Vladimir V. Putin was rebuffed on the theory that such a move would go too far.
罗兹写道，他直到离任后才得知联邦调查局的调查一事，之后就是通过新闻媒体解情况。奥巴马没有在大选前通过制裁报复俄罗斯干预选举，因为他认为这么做可能会促使莫斯科入侵选举日的计票系统。选举结束后，奥巴马的确对俄罗斯实行了制裁，但罗兹的建议——将俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·V·普京(Vladimir V. Putin)列为制裁对象——被以太过分为由拒绝。
Mr. Obama and his team were confident that Mrs. Clinton would win and, like much of the country, were shocked when she did not. “I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should have seen it coming,” Mr. Rhodes writes. “Because when you distilled it, stripped out the racism and misogyny, we’d run against Hillary eight years ago with the same message Trump had used: She’s part of a corrupt establishment that can’t be trusted to bring change.”
奥巴马和他的团队确信希拉里·克林顿会获得胜利，而当她没有当选时，他们也和这个国家的大多数人一样感到震惊。“我脑子里总在想，我应该早就预料到会这样的，”罗兹写道。“因为如果你提炼一下，不考虑那些种族和女性歧视，我们在八年前跟希拉里竞选对抗的时候，用的是和特朗普一样的说辞：她属于一个腐败的统治集团，无法信任她会带来改变。”
On election night, Mr. Obama spoke by telephone with Cody Keenan, his chief speechwriter, and Mr. Rhodes to figure out what he should say. Mr. Rhodes asked if he should offer reassurance to allies. “No, I don’t think that I’m the one to tell them that,” the president said.
竞选当晚，奥巴马与他的首席演讲撰稿人科迪·基南(Cody Keenan)和罗兹通话讨论他该说些什么。罗兹提出他是否该向盟友提供保证。“不，我不认为应该由我来告诉他们这个，”总统说道。
The next day, Mr. Obama focused on cheering up his despondent staff. At one point, he sent a message to Mr. Rhodes saying, “There are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on the earth.”
第二天，奥巴马最关心的是让沮丧的幕僚们打起精神来。他一度还给罗兹发了条消息说：“天上的星星，比地上的沙子多。”
But days later, Mr. Obama seemed less sanguine. “I don’t know,” he told aides. “Maybe this is what people want. I’ve got the economy set up well for him. No facts. No consequences. They can just have a cartoon.”
但几天后，奥巴马看起来就不那么乐观了。“我不知道，”他告诉助手。“可能这就是人们想要的。我已经帮他把经济准备好了。没有事实。没有后果。他们有个卡通就够了。”
He added that “we’re about to find out just how resilient our institutions are, at home and around the world.”
他还说“我们很快就能知道，我们的制度——无论在国内还是世界上——有多强的抗冲击能力了。”
The day Mr. Obama hosted Mr. Trump at the White House after the election seemed surreal. Mr. Trump kept steering the conversation back to the size of his rallies, noting that he and Mr. Obama could draw big crowds, but Mrs. Clinton could not, Mr. Rhodes writes.
大选后奥巴马在白宫接待特朗普的那天看起来有些超现实。罗兹写道，特朗普不断地把谈话转向他的集会规模，指出他和奥巴马都能吸引大批人群，而希拉里·克林顿不行。
Afterward, Mr. Obama called a few aides to the Oval Office to ruminate on the encounter. “I’m trying to place him in American history,” he said.
之后，奥巴马把几名助手叫到了椭圆形办公室，认真思考这次会面。“我在试着把他摆在美国历史里，”他说。
“He peddles” bull, Mr. Rhodes answered. “That character has always been part of the American story. You can see it right back to some of the characters in Huckleberry Finn.”
罗兹说，“他满口”胡话。“美国历史上向来都有这个角色。在《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》的一些人物身上你就可以看到。”
“Maybe,” Mr. Obama answered, “that’s the best we can hope for.”
“或许，”奥巴马回答说，“那就是我们能指望的最好情况了。”
作者：Peter Baker
翻译：Jowii、陈亦亭
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