Obama Addresses Racial Divisiveness in Presidential Campaign
奧巴馬譴責他的牧師發表不妥言論

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama sought to defuse a brewing political controversy Tuesday when he condemned inflammatory statements made over the years by his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright of Chicago. Obama's remarks came during a speech on race in America delivered in Philadelphia.

角逐美國民主黨總統候選人提名的巴拉克.奧巴馬參議員星期二譴責他在芝加哥多年的賴特牧師所做的煽動性言論，尋求以此來減輕醞釀中的政治爭議。奧巴馬在費城發表的關于美國種族問題的講話中做出了上述評論。

Senator Obama condemned racially charged comments made by Reverend Wright in some of his sermons, calling his view of the United States profoundly distorted.

奧巴馬參議員譴責了賴特牧師在布道中所做的一些充滿種族色彩的評論，說他對美國的看法嚴重地扭曲。

Over the years, Reverend Wright accused the U.S. government of being the source of the AIDS virus and said the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States were retribution for U.S. foreign policy.

多年以來，賴特牧師譴責美國政府是艾滋病的根源，并說2001年美國遭受的恐怖襲擊是對美國外交政策的報復。

Obama is seeking to become the first African-American president and said Wright's comments offended both blacks and whites and have the potential to widen the racial divide in America.

奧巴馬正在尋求成為美國的第一位非洲裔總統。他表示，賴特的評論既傷害了黑人，也傷害了白人，有可能會在美國進一步擴大種族分歧。

"Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course," Obama said. "Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely, just as I am sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed."

奧巴馬說：“我是否知道他偶爾會強烈地批評美國國內和國際政策呢？當然知道。我在教堂里是不是曾經聽到過他發表可以被認為是有爭議的觀點呢？聽到過。我是否非常強烈地不同意他的很多政治觀點呢？絕對是。就像我肯定你們當中有很多人聽到自己的牧師、神父或者教士的觀點也非常強烈地表示難以茍同是一樣的。”

Wright retired recently and was known for fiery sermons, like this one in 2003 that focused on what he believed were U.S. government efforts to mistreat blacks.

賴特最近退休，他激烈的布道是出了名的，就像2003年他關注他所認為的美國政府虐待黑人那樣。

"The government gives them drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing God Bless America," Wright said. "No, no, no, not God Bless America, God damn America! That is in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human!"

賴特說：“政府給他們毒品，建造更大的監獄，通過了從嚴的慣犯法，然后還想讓我們高唱上帝保佑美國。不，不，不。不是上帝保佑美國，是上帝譴責美國！圣經中有關于殺害無辜的記載，上帝譴責美國，因為它對待我們的公民不像對待人那樣。”

Obama met Wright more than 20 years ago and described him as someone who helped introduce him to his Christian faith.

奧巴馬20多年前就認識了賴特，他說是賴特把他引上了基督徒的道路。

Despite his criticism of Wright's racially-tinged comments over the years, Obama said he will not disown his former minister.

盡管他批評了賴特多年來富有種族色彩的評論，奧巴馬說，他不會拋棄他過去的牧師。

"As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me," Obama said. "He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding and baptized my children. I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother."

奧巴馬說：“盡管他可能不夠完美，但他曾像我的家人一樣。他加深了我的信仰，主持了我的婚禮，為我的孩子行洗禮。我無法脫離他，就像無法脫離我的黑人社區一樣。我無法脫離他，就像我無法脫離我的白人祖母一樣。”

Obama also attempted to spark a frank discussion of race as an issue in U.S. politics. Obama acknowledged that blacks and whites had different views of the state of the problem, but said the answer was openly confronting those differences to bring the country together.

奧巴馬還試圖要激發一次關于種族的坦誠討論，種族問題是美國政治中的一個問題。奧巴馬承認黑人和白人對問題的狀態有不同的觀點，但是他說，答案是，公開地面對這些分歧，把國家團結起來。

"I would not be running for president if I did not believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country," Obama said. "This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected."

The controversy over Wright's comments has been a major distraction for the Obama campaign in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination with Senator Hillary Clinton.

有關賴特牧師言論的爭議在奧巴馬和克林頓參議員競爭民主黨總統候選人提名的選戰中成了對他的主要干擾。

Obama and Clinton next face off in the Pennsylvania primary on April 22. A new poll gives Clinton a 12 point lead in Pennsylvania as she tries to overcome Obama's continuing lead in the delegate count.

奧巴馬和克林頓下一次的競爭是4月22號在賓夕法尼亞州的初選。新的民意調查顯示，克林頓在努力克服奧巴馬在黨代表名額上持續領先的局面時，她目前在賓州領先12個百分點。