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=====精彩回顧===
奧巴馬任期最后幾個月
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?
由于任期時間所剩無幾，奧巴馬總統積極努力地推行一些有爭議的立法，比如伊朗核協議和移民改革。許多總統在最后的任期總會妥協，避免棘手的政治問題，或者利用這個機會來完成最理想的目標。奧巴馬在這兩點上都飽受指控，被稱為“跛鴨總統”。那么，什么是“跛鴨”呢？奧巴馬總統符合特征嗎？
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.
“跛鴨”指的是已當選但是不會再次當選的官員，但是仍然要服完剩下的任期。這個標簽適用于任何連任第二任期的總統，但是如果反對派的候選人贏得選舉，則更確切了。從這時起直至新的候選人在1月份當選，“跛鴨總統”只有幾個月的時間來完成自己的計劃。通常這段時間不夠完成任何重要的事情，所以其他官員對于合作不會很感興趣。
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.
“跛鴨”這個標簽首次于18世紀出現，指的是債務累累的人。但是到了19世紀，這個詞的意思開始用于任何任期即將結束的官員。
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.
政治勢力開始削弱的“跛鴨總統”的一個例子就是上世紀30年代的赫伯特·胡佛。他在任期結束時難以改善大蕭條的經濟狀況，因為每個人都在等待富蘭克林· 德拉諾·羅斯福的聯邦整改。美國經濟停滯，胡佛被國民憎恨，被稱為“跛鴨總統”。
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，在現代，“跛鴨總統”找到了充分利用優勢的方法。他們有很大的能力來做出不受歡迎的決定，因為他們不再尋求競選連任。奧巴馬總統利用這一優勢雄心勃勃地追求民主政治改革，并希望留下持久的精神財產。
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.
實際上，奧巴馬作為“跛鴨總統”非常成功，一些人甚至認為他完全重新定義了這一標簽。在他的第二任期內，他促成了幾大自由政策的成功，包括平價醫療法案，移民改革和同性婚姻。他還在努力抗爭民主黨占主導地位的國會。
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.
盡管他不經常使用總統否決權，然而最近他威脅使用該權利來捍衛氣候變化立法，并否決基石輸油管項目。奧巴馬還促使國會通過了跨太平洋伙伴關系協議。他還在增加美國與古巴和伊朗的外交關系方面發揮了重要作用。過去幾年，他積極進取推行立法，作為“跛鴨總統”取得了前所未有的成功。
