总统演讲稿范文3篇大纲

本文目录总统演讲稿范文奥巴马总统在胡德堡枪击案悼念仪式上英语演讲稿奥巴马总统就美国经济和外交政策发布会演讲稿

thank you. thank you very much. (applause.) thank you so much. please,please, have aseat. thank you.

what a singular honor it is forme to be here today. i want to thank,first and foremost, thejohnson family for giving us this opportunity and thegraciousness with which michelle and ihave been received.

we came down a little bit latebecause we were upstairs looking at some of the exhibits andsome of theprivate offices that were used by president johnson and mrs. johnson. and michellewas in particular interested to-- of a recording in which lady bird is critiquing presidentjohnson’sperformance. (laughter.) and she said, come, come, you need to listento this. (laughter.) and she pressed the button and nodded herhead. some things do not change --(laughter) -- even 50 years later.

to all the members of congress,the warriors for justice, the elected officials andcommunity leaders who arehere today -- i want to thank you.

four days into his suddenpresidency -- and the night before he would address a jointsession of thecongress in which he once served -- lyndon johnson sat around a table withhisclosest advisors, preparing his remarks to a shattered and grieving nation.

he wanted to call on senators andrepresentatives to pass a civil rights bill -- the mostsweeping sincereconstruction. and most of his staffcounseled him against it. they said itwashopeless; that it would anger powerful southern democrats and committeechairmen; that itrisked derailing the rest of his domestic agenda. and one particularly bold aide said he didnotbelieve a president should spend his time and power on lost causes, howeverworthy they mightbe. to which, it issaid, president johnson replied, “well, what the hell’s the presidencyfor?” (laughter and applause.) what the hell’s the presidency for if not tofight for causes youbelieve in?

today, as we commemorate the 50thanniversary of the civil rights act, we honor the menand women who made itpossible. some of them are heretoday. we celebrate giants like johnlewisand andrew young and julian bond. werecall the countless unheralded americans, blackand white, students andscholars, preachers and housekeepers -- whose names are etched notonmonuments, but in the hearts of their loved ones, and in the fabric of thecountry theyhelped to change.

but we also gather here, deep inthe heart of the state that shaped him, to recall one giantman’s remarkableefforts to make real the promise of our founding: “we hold these truths to beself-evident,that all men are created equal.”

those of us who have had thesingular privilege to hold the office of the presidency knowwell that progressin this country can be hard and it can be slow, frustrating andsometimesyou’re stymied. the office humblesyou. you’re reminded daily that in thisgreatdemocracy, you are but a relay swimmer in the currents of history, boundby decisions madeby those who came before, reliant on the efforts of those whowill follow to fully vindicate yourvision.

but the presidency also affords aunique opportunity to bend those currents -- by shapingour laws and by shapingour debates; by working within the confines of the world as it is, butalso byreimagining the world as it should be.

this was president johnson’sgenius. as a master of politics and thelegislative process, hegrasped like few others the power of government tobring about change.

lbj was nothing if not arealist. he was well aware that the lawalone isn’t enough to changehearts and minds. a full century after lincoln’s time, he said, “until justice is blind tocolor, untileducation is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcernedwith the color of men’s skins,emancipation will be a proclamation but not afact.”

he understood laws couldn’taccomplish everything. but he also knewthat only the law couldanchor change, and set hearts and minds on a differentcourse. and a lot of americansneededthe law’s most basic protections at that time. as dr. king said at the time, “it may betrue that the law can’t make a manlove me but it can keep him from lynching me, and i thinkthat’s pretty important.” (applause.)

and passing laws was what lbjknew how to do. no one knew politics andno one lovedlegislating more than president johnson. he was charming when he needed to be,ruthlesswhen required. (laughter.) he could wear you down with logic andargument. he could horsetrade, and hecould flatter. “you come with me on thisbill,” he would reportedly tell a keyrepublican leader from my home stateduring the fight for the civil rights bill, “and 200 yearsfrom now,schoolchildren will know only two names: abraham lincoln and everett dirksen!” (laughter.) and he knew thatsenators would believe things like that. (laughter and applause.)

president johnson likedpower. he liked the feel of it, thewielding of it. but that hunger washarnessedand redeemed by a deeper understanding of the human condition; by a sympathyforthe underdog, for the downtrodden, for the outcast. and it was a sympathy rooted in hisownexperience.

as a young boy growing up in thetexas hill country, johnson knew what being poor feltlike. “poverty was so common,” he would later say,“we didn’t even know it had a name.” (laughter.) the family homedidn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing. everybody workedhard, including the children. president johnson had known the metallictaste of hunger; the feelof a mother’s calloused hands, rubbed raw fromwashing and cleaning and holding a householdtogether. his cousin ava remembered sweltering daysspent on her hands and knees in thecotton fields, with lyndon whisperingbeside her, “boy, there’s got to be a better way to make aliving thanthis. there’s got to be a better way.”

it wasn’t until years later whenhe was teaching at a so-called mexican school in a tiny townin texas that hecame to understand how much worse the persistent pain of poverty could beforother races in a jim crow south. oftentimes his students would show up to class when he’d visit their homes, he’d meetfathers who were paid slave wages by the farmersthey worked for. those children were taught, he would latersay, “that the end of life is in a beetrow, a spinach field, or a cottonpatch.”

deprivation and discrimination --these were not abstractions to lyndon baines knew that poverty and injustice are asinseparable as opportunity and justice are that was in him from an early age.

now, like any of us, he was not aperfect man. his experiences in ruraltexas may havestretched his moral imagination, but he was ambitious, veryambitious, a young man in a hurryto plot his own escape from poverty and tochart his own political career. and inthe jim crowsouth, that meant not challenging convention. during his first 20 years in congress,heopposed every civil rights bill that came up for a vote, once calling the pushfor federallegislation “a farce and a sham.” he was chosen as a vice presidential nominee in part becauseof hisaffinity with, and ability to deliver, that southern white vote. and at the beginning of thekennedy administration,he shared with president kennedy a caution towards racialcontroversy.

but marchers kept marching. four little girls were killed in achurch. bloody sundayhappened. the winds of change blew. and when the time came, when lbj stood in theovaloffice -- i picture him standing there, taking up the entire doorframe,looking out over thesouth lawn in a quiet moment -- and asked himself what thetrue purpose of his office was for,what was the endpoint of his ambitions, hewould reach back in his own memory and he’dremember his own experience withwant.

and he knew that he had a uniquecapacity, as the most powerful white politician from thesouth, to not merelychallenge the convention that had crushed the dreams of so many, buttoultimately dismantle for good the structures of legal segregation. he’s the only guy whocould do it -- and heknew there would be a cost, famously saying the democratic party may“have lostthe south for a generation.”

that’s what his presidency wasfor. that’s where he meets hismoment. and possessed withan iron will,possessed with those skills that he had honed so many years in congress,pushedand supported by a movement of those willing to sacrifice everything for theirownliberation, president johnson fought for and argued and horse traded andbullied and persuadeduntil ultimately he signed the civil rights act into law.

and he didn’t stop there -- eventhough his advisors again told him to wait, again told himlet the dust settle,let the country absorb this momentous decision. he shook them off. “themeat inthe coconut,” as president johnson would put it, was the voting rights act, sohe foughtfor and passed that as well. immigration reform came shortly after. and then, a fair housingact. andthen, a health care law that opponents described as “socialized medicine” thatwouldcurtail america’s freedom, but ultimately freed millions of seniors fromthe fear that illnesscould rob them of dignity and security in their goldenyears, which we now know today asmedicare. (applause.)

what president johnson understoodwas that equality required more than the absence ofoppression. it required the presence of economicopportunity. he wouldn’t be as eloquentasdr. king would be in describing that linkage, as dr. king moved intomobilizing sanitationworkers and a poor people’s movement, but he understoodthat connection because he hadlived it. a decent job, decent wages, health care -- those, too, were civil rightsworth fightingfor. an economy wherehard work is rewarded and success is shared, that was his goal. and heknew, as someone who had seen the newdeal transform the landscape of his texas childhood,who had seen thedifference electricity had made because of the tennessee valley authority,thetransformation concretely day in and day out in the life of his own family, heunderstood thatgovernment had a role to play in broadening prosperity to allthose who would strive for it.

“we want to open the gates toopportunity,” president johnson said, “but we are also goingto give all ourpeople, black and white, the help they need to walk through those gates.”

now, if some of this soundsfamiliar, it’s because today we remain locked in this same greatdebate aboutequality and opportunity, and the role of government in ensuring each. as wastrue 50 years ago, there are those whodismiss the great society as a failed experiment and anencroachment onliberty; who argue that government has become the true source of all thatailsus, and that poverty is due to the moral failings of those who suffer fromit. there are alsothose who argue,john, that nothing has changed; that racism is so embedded in our dnathatthere is no use trying politics -- the game is rigged.

but such theories ignore history. yes, it’s true that, despite laws like thecivil rights act,and the voting rights act and medicare, our society is stillracked with division and ,race still colors our political debates, and there have been governmentprograms that havefallen short. in atime when cynicism is too often passed off as wisdom, it’s perhaps easytoconclude that there are limits to change; that we are trapped by our ownhistory; and politicsis a fool’s errand, and we’d be better off if we rollback big chunks of lbj’s legacy, or at least ifwe don’t put too much of ourhope, invest too much of our hope in our government.

i reject such thinking. (applause.) not just because medicare and medicaid have liftedmillions fromsuffering; not just because the poverty rate in this nation would be farworsewithout food stamps and head start and all the great society programs thatsurvive tothis day. i reject suchcynicism because i have lived out the promise of lbj’s efforts. becausemichelle has lived out the legacy ofthose efforts. because my daughters havelived out thelegacy of those efforts. because i and millions of my generation were in a position to takethebaton that he handed to us. (applause.)

because of the civil rightsmovement, because of the laws president johnson signed, newdoors ofopportunity and education swung open for everybody -- not all at once, but theyswungopen. not just blacks and whites,but also women and latinos; and asians and nativeamericans; and gay americansand americans with a disability. theyswung open for you, andthey swung open for me. and that’s why i’m standing here today -- because of thoseefforts,because of that legacy. (applause.)

and that means we’ve got a debtto pay. that means we can’t afford to becynical. half acentury later, the lawslbj passed are now as fundamental to our conception of ourselves andourdemocracy as the constitution and the bill of rights. they are foundational; an essentialpiece ofthe american character.

but we are here today because weknow we cannot be complacent. forhistory travels notonly forwards; history can travel backwards, history cantravel sideways. and securing thegainsthis country has made requires the vigilance of its citizens. our rights, our freedoms --they are notgiven. they must be won. they must be nurtured through struggle anddiscipline,and persistence and faith.

and one concern i have sometimesduring these moments, the celebration of the signing ofthe civil rights act,the march on washington -- from a distance, sometimes thesecommemorations seeminevitable, they seem easy. all the painand difficulty and struggle anddoubt -- all that is rubbed away. and we look at ourselves and we say, oh,things are just toodifferent now; wecouldn’t possibly do what was done then -- these giants, whattheyaccomplished. and yet, they were men andwomen, too. it wasn’t easy then. it wasn’tcertain then.

still, the story of america is astory of progress. however slow, howeverincomplete, howeverharshly challenged at each point on our journey, howeverflawed our leaders, however manytimes we have to take a quarter of a loaf orhalf a loaf -- the story of america is a story ofprogress. and that’s true because of men like presidentlyndon baines johnson. (applause.

in so many ways, he embodiedamerica, with all our gifts and all our flaws, in all ourrestlessness and allour big dreams. this man -- born intopoverty, weaned in a world full ofracial hatred -- somehow found within himselfthe ability to connect his experience with thebrown child in a small texastown; the white child in appalachia; the black child in watts. aspowerful as he became in that oval office,he understood them. he understood whatit meant tobe on the outside. and hebelieved that their plight was his plight too; that his freedomultimately waswrapped up in theirs; and that making their lives better was what the hellthepresidency was for. (applause.)

and those children were on hismind when he strode to the podium that night in the housechamber, when hecalled for the vote on the civil rights law. “it never occurred to me,” he said, “in my fondest dreams that i mighthave the chance to help the sons and daughters of thosestudents” that he hadtaught so many years ago, “and to help people like them all overthiscountry. but now i do have thatchance. and i’ll let you in on a secret-- i mean to use i hope that youwill use it with me.” (applause.)

that was lbj’s greatness. that’s why we remember him. and if there is one thing that heand thisyear’s anniversary should teach us, if there’s one lesson i hope that malia andsasha andyoung people everywhere learn from this day, it’s that with enougheffort, and enoughempathy, and enough perseverance, and enough courage, peoplewho love their country canchange it.

in his final year, presidentjohnson stood on this stage, racked with pain, battered by thecontroversies ofvietnam, looking far older than his 64 years, and he delivered what would behisfinal public speech.

“we have proved that greatprogress is possible,” he said. “we knowhow much still remainsto be done. andif our efforts continue, and if our will is strong, and if our hearts areright, and ifcourage remains our constant companion, then, my fellowamericans, i am confident, weshall overcome.” (applause.)

we shall overcome. we, the citizens of the united states. like dr. king, like abrahamlincoln, likecountless citizens who have driven this country inexorably forward, presidentjohnsonknew that ours in the end is a story of optimism, a story ofachievement and constant strivingthat is unique upon this earth. he knew because he had lived that story. he believed thattogether we can build anamerica that is more fair, more equal, and more free than the oneweinherited. he believed we make our owndestiny. and in part because of him, wemust believeit as well.

thank you. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. (applause.)

奥巴马总统在胡德堡枪击案悼念仪式上英语演讲稿总统演讲稿范文（2） | 返回目录

in our lives -- in our joys andin our sorrows -- we’ve learned that there is “a time for everymatter underheaven.” we laugh and we weep. we celebrate and we mourn. we serve in warand we pray for peace. but scripture also teaches that, alongsidethe temporal, one thing iseternal. “love bears all things, believes allthings, hopes all things, endures all things. lovenever ends.

deputy secretary fox; generaldempsey; secretary mchugh; generals odierno and milley;and most of all, thefamilies of the soldiers who have been taken from us; the wounded -- thosewhohave returned to duty and those still recovering; and the entire community offort hood,this “great place”: it islove, tested by tragedy, that brings us together again.

it was love for country thatinspired these three americans to put on the uniform and jointhe greatest armythat the world has ever known. sergeantfirst class daniel fsergeant carlos lazaney-rodriguez. sergeant timothy owens.

and danny and carlos joined twodecades ago, in a time of peace, and stayed as the nationwent to war. timothy joined after 9/11, knowing he couldbe sent into harm’s way. betweenthem,they deployed nine times. each served iniraq. danny came home from afghanistanjustlast year. they lived those shiningvalues -- loyalty, duty, honor -- that keep us strong and free.

it was love for the army thatmade them the soldiers they were. fordanny, said his fiancée,being in the army “was his life.” carlos, said a friend, was “the epitome ofwhat you would wanta leader to be in the army.” timothy helped counsel his fellowsoldiers. said a friend, “he wasalwaysthe person you could go talk to.”

and it was love for theircomrades, for all of you, that defined their last moments. as we’veheard, when the gunman tried to pushhis way into that room, danny held the door shut, savingthe lives of otherswhile sacrificing his own. and it’s saidthat timothy -- the counselor, eventhen -- gave his life, walking toward thegunman, trying to calm him down.

for you, their families, no wordsare equal to your loss. we are here onbehalf of theamerican people to honor your loved ones and to offer whatevercomfort we can. but know this:we also draw strength from you. for even in your grief, even as your heartbreaks, we see inyou that eternal truth: “love never ends.”

to the parents of these men -- asa father, i cannot begin to fathom your anguish. but iknow that you poured your love and yourhopes into your sons. i know that themen and soldiersthey became -- their sense of service and their patriotism --so much of that came from gaveyour sons to america, and just as you will honor them always, so, too, will thenationthat they served.

to the loves of their lives --timothy’s wife billy and danny’s fiancée kristen -- these soldierscherishedthe army, but their hearts belonged to you. and that’s a bond that no earthly powercan ever break. they have slipped from your embrace, but knowthat you will never be usethis army and this nation stands with you for all the days to come.

to their children -- we live in adangerous world, and your fathers served to keep you safeand us safe. they knew you have so much to give ourcountry; that you’d make them thy’s daughter lori already has. last wednesday night, she posted this message online: “ijust wanteveryone to think for a moment.” loveyour family, she said, “because you never knowwhen [they’re] gonna be takenfrom you. i love you, daddy.”

and to the men and women of forthood -- as has already been mentioned, part of whatmakes this so painful isthat we have been here before. thistragedy tears at wounds still rawfrom five years ago. once more, soldiers who survived foreignwarzones were struck down hereat home, where they’re supposed to be safe. we still do not yet know exactly why, but wedoknow this: we must honor their lives,not “in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.”

we must honor these men with arenewed commitment to keep our troops safe, not just inbattle but on the homefront, as well. in our open society, andat vast bases like this, we cannever eliminate every risk. but as a nation, we can do more to helpcounsel those with mentalhealth issues, to keep firearms out of the hands ofthose who are having such deep a military, we must continue to do everything in our power to secureour facilities and spareothers this pain.

we must honor these men by doingmore to care for our fellow americans living withmental illness, civilian andmilitary. today, four american soldiersare gone. four army familiesaredevastated. as commander-in-chief, i’mdetermined that we will continue to step up ourefforts -- to reach our troopsand veterans who are hurting, to deliver to them the care that theyneed, andto make sure we never stigmatize those who have the courage to seek help.

and finally, we must honor thesemen by recognizing that they were members of ageneration that has borne theburden of our security in more than a decade of war. now ourtroops are coming home, and by theend of this year our war in afghanistan will finally be over.

in an era when fewer americansknow someone in uniform, every american must see thesemen and these women --our 9/11 generation -- as the extraordinary citizens that they love their families. they excel at their jobs. they serve their communities. they areleaders. and when we truly welcome our veterans home,when we show them that we need them-- not just to fight in other countries,but to build up our own -- then our schools and ourbusinesses, our communitiesand our nation will be more successful, and america will bestronger and moreunited for decades to come.

sergeant first class danielferguson. staff sergeant carloslazaney-rodriguez. sergeanttimothyowens. like the 576 fort hood soldierswho have given their lives in iraq andafghanistan, they were taken from usmuch too soon. like the 13 americans welost five yearsago, their passing shakes our soul. and in moments such as this, we summon oncemore whatwe’ve learned in these hard years of war. we reach within our wounded hearts. we lean on eachother. we hold each other up. we carry on. and with god’s amazing grace, we somehow bearwhat seems unbearable.

“love bears all things, believesall things, hopes all things, endures all things. love neverends.” may god watch over these american soldiers,may he keep strong their families whoselove endures, and may god continue tobless the united states of america with patriots such asthese.

奥巴马总统就美国经济和外交政策发布会演讲稿总统演讲稿范文（3） | 返回目录

good afternoon, everybody. happy friday. i thought i’d take somequestions, but first, let me say a few words about the economy.

this morning, we learned that our economy created over 200,000 new jobs in july. that’s ontop of about 300,000 new jobs in june. so we are now in a six-month streak with at least200,000 new jobs each month. that’s the first time that has happened since 1997. over thepast year, we’ve added more jobs than any year since XX. and all told, our businesses havecreated 9.9 million new jobs over the past 53 months. that’s the longest streak of privatesector job creation in our history.

and as we saw on wednesday, the economy grew at a strong pace in the spring. companies areinvesting. consumers are spending. american manufacturing, energy, technology, autos -- allare booming. and thanks to the decisions that we’ve made, and the grit and resilience of theamerican people, we’ve recovered faster and come farther from the recession than almost anyother advanced country on earth.

so the good news is the economy clearly is getting stronger. things are getting better. ourengines are revving a little bit louder. and the decisions that we make right now can sustainand keep that growth and momentum going.

unfortunately, there are a series of steps that we could be taking to maintain momentum, andperhaps even accelerate it; there are steps that we could be taking that would result in morejob growth, higher wages, higher incomes, more relief for middle-class families. and so far, atleast, in congress, we have not seen them willing or able to take those steps.

i’ve been pushing for common-sense ideas like rebuilding our infrastructure in ways that aresustained over many years and support millions of good jobs and help businesses compete.i’ve been advocating on behalf of raising the minimum wage, making it easier for working folksto pay off their student loans; fair pay, paid leave. all these policies have two things incommon: all of them would help working families feel more stable and secure, and all of themso far have been blocked or ignored by republicans in congress. that’s why myadministration keeps taking whatever actions we can take on our own to help working families.

now, it’s good that congress was able to pass legislation to strengthen the va. and i want tothank the chairmen and ranking members who were involved in that. it’s good that congresswas able to at least fund transportation projects for a few more months before leaving town --although it falls far short of the kind of infrastructure effort that we need that would actuallyaccelerate the economy. but for the most part, the big-ticket items, the things that wouldreally make a difference in the lives of middle-class families, those things just are not gettingdone.

let’s just take a recent example: immigration. we all agree that there’s a problem that needsto be solved in a portion of our southern border. and we even agree on most of the instead of working together -- instead of focusing on the 80 percent where there isagreement between democrats and republicans, between the administration and congress --house republicans, as we speak, are trying to pass the most extreme and unworkable versionsof a bill that they already know is going nowhere, that can’t pass the senate and that if it wereto pass the senate i would veto. they know it.

they’re not even trying to actually solve the problem. this is a message bill that they couldn’tquite pull off yesterday, so they made it a little more extreme so maybe they can pass it today-- just so they can check a box before they’re leaving town for a month. and this is on an issuethat they all insisted had to be a top priority.

now, our efforts administratively so far have helped to slow the tide of child migrants trying tocome to our country. but without additional resources and help from congress, we’re just notgoing to have the resources we need to fully solve the problem. that means while they’re outon vacation i’m going to have to make some tough choices to meet the challenge -- with orwithout congress.

and yesterday, even though they’ve been sitting on a bipartisan immigration bill for over ayear, house republicans suggested that since they don’t expect to actually pass a bill that i cansign, that i actually should go ahead and act on my own to solve the problem. keep in mindthat just a few days earlier, they voted to sue me for acting on my own. and then when theycouldn’t pass a bill yesterday, they put out a statement suggesting i should act on my ownbecause they couldn’t pass a bill.

so immigration has not gotten done. a student loan bill that would help folks who havestudent loan debt consolidate and refinance at lower rates -- that didn’t pass. thetransportation bill that they did pass just gets us through the spring, when we should actuallybe planning years in advance. states and businesses are raising the minimum wage for theirworkers because this congress is failing to do so.

even basic things like approving career diplomats for critical ambassadorial posts aren’t gettingdone. last night, for purely political reasons, senate republicans, for a certain period of time,blocked our new ambassador to russia. it raised such an uproar that finally they went aheadand let our russian ambassador pass -- at a time when we are dealing every day with the crisisin ukraine.

they’re still blocking our ambassador to sierra leone, where there’s currently an ebolaoutbreak. they’re blocking our ambassador to guatemala, even as they demand that we domore to stop the flow of unaccompanied children from guatemala. there are a lot of things thatwe could be arguing about on policy -- that’s what we should be doing as a democracy -- butwe shouldn’t be having an argument about placing career diplomats with bipartisan support incountries around the world where we have to have a presence.

so the bottom line is this: we have come a long way over the last five and a half years. ourchallenges are nowhere near as daunting as they were when i first came into office. but theamerican people demand and deserve a strong and focused effort on the part of all of us tokeep moving the country forward and to focus on their concerns. and the fact is we could bemuch further along and we could be doing even better, and the economy could be evenstronger, and more jobs could be created if congress would do the job that the people sentthem here to do.

and i will not stop trying to work with both parties to get things moving faster for middle-classfamilies and those trying to get into the middle class. when congress returns next month, myhope is, is that instead of simply trying to pass partisan message bills on party lines that don’tactually solve problems, they’re going to be willing to come together to at least focus on somekey areas where there’s broad agreement. after all that we’ve had to overcome, our congressshould stop standing in the way of our country’s success.

so with that, let me take a couple of questions. and i will start with roberta rampton ofreuters.

q: thanks. i want to ask about the situation in the middle east. and why do you think israelshould embrace a cease-fire in gaza when one of its soldiers appears to have been abductedand when hamas continues to use its network of tunnels to launch attacks? and also, have youseen israel act at all on your call to do more to protect civilians?

the president: well, first of all, i think it’s important to note that we have -- and i have --unequivocally condemned hamas and the palestinian factions that were responsible forkilling two israeli soldiers and abducting a third almost minutes after a cease-fire had beenannounced. and the u.n. has condemned them as well.

and i want to make sure that they are listening: if they are serious about trying to resolve thissituation, that soldier needs to be unconditionally released as soon as possible.

i have been very clear throughout this crisis that israel has a right to defend itself. no countrycan tolerate missiles raining down on its cities and people having to rush to bomb sheltersevery 20 minutes or half hour. no country can or would tolerate tunnels being dug under theirland that can be used to launch terrorist attacks.

and so, not only have we been supportive of israel in its right to defend itself, but in veryconcrete terms -- for example, in support for the iron dome program that has interceptedrockets that are firing down on israeli cities -- we’ve been trying to cooperate as much as wecan to make sure that israel is able to protect its citizens.

now, at the same time, we’ve also been clear that innocent civilians in gaza caught in thecrossfire have to weigh on our conscience and we have to do more to protect them. acease-fire was one way in which we could stop the killing, to step back and to try to resolvesome of the underlying issues that have been building up over quite some time. israelcommitted to that 72-hour cease-fire, and it was violated. and trying to put that backtogether is going to be challenging, but we will continue to make those efforts.

and let me take this opportunity, by the way, to give secretary john kerry credit. he hasbeen persistent. he has worked very hard. he has endured on many occasions really unfaircriticism simply to try to get to the point where the killing stops and the underlying issuesabout israel’s security but also the concerns of palestinians in gaza can be addressed.

we’re going to keep working towards that. it’s going to take some time. i think it’s going to bevery hard to put a cease-fire back together again if israelis and the international communitycan’t feel confident that hamas can follow through on a cease-fire commitment.

and it’s not particularly relevant whether a particular leader in hamas ordered this point is, is that when they sign onto a cease-fire they’re claiming to speak for all thepalestinian factions. and if they don’t have control of them, and just moments after a cease-fire is signed you have israeli soldiers being killed and captured, then it’s hard for the israelis tofeel confident that a cease-fire can actually be honored.

i’m in constant consultation with prime minister netanyahu. our national security team is inconstant communication with the israel military. i want to see everything possible done tomake sure that palestinian civilians are not being killed. and it is heartbreaking to see what’shappening there, and i think many of us recognize the dilemma we have. on the one hand,israel has a right to defend itself and it’s got to be able to get at those rockets and thosetunnel networks. on the other hand, because of the incredibly irresponsible actions on thepart of hamas to oftentimes house these rocket launchers right in the middle of civilianneighborhoods, we end up seeing people who had nothing to do with these rockets ending upbeing hurt.

part of the reason why we’ve been pushing so hard for a cease-fire is precisely because it’s hardto reconcile israel’s legitimate need to defend itself with our concern with those civilians. andif we can pause the fighting, then it’s possible that we may be able to arrive at a formula thatspares lives and also ensures israel’s security. but it’s difficult. and i don’t think we shouldpretend otherwise.

bill plante.

q: mr. president, like that cease-fire, you’ve called for diplomatic solutions not only in israeland gaza but also in ukraine, in iraq, to very little effect so far. has the united states ofamerica lost its influence in the world? have you lost yours?

the president: look, this is a common theme that folks bring up. apparently people haveforgotten that america, as the most powerful country on earth, still does not controleverything around the world. and so our diplomatic efforts often take time. they often will seeprogress and then a step backwards. that’s been true in the middle east. that’s been true ineurope. that’s been true in asia. that’s the nature of world affairs. it’s not neat, and it’s notsmooth.

but if you look at, for example, ukraine, we have made progress in delivering on what we saidwe would do. we can’t control how mr. putin thinks. but what we can do is say to mr. putin, ifyou continue on the path of arming separatists with heavy armaments that the evidencesuggests may have resulted in 300 innocent people on a jet dying, and that violatesinternational law and undermines the integrity -- territorial integrity and sovereignty ofukraine, then you’re going to face consequences that will hurt your country.

and there was a lot of skepticism about our ability to coordinate with europeans for a strongseries of sanctions. and each time we have done what we said we would do, including this week,when we put in place sanctions that have an impact on key sectors of the russian economy --their energy, their defense, their financial systems.

it hasn’t resolved the problem yet. i spoke to mr. putin this morning, and i indicated to him,just as we will do what we say we do in terms of sanctions, we’ll also do what we say we do interms of wanting to resolve this issue diplomatically if he takes a different position. if herespects and honors the right of ukrainians to determine their own destiny, then it’s possibleto make sure that russian interests are addressed that are legitimate, and that ukrainians areable to make their own decisions, and we can resolve this conflict and end some of thebloodshed.

but the point is, though, bill, that if you look at the 20th century and the early part of thiscentury, there are a lot of conflicts that america doesn’t resolve. that’s always been true. thatdoesn’t mean we stop trying. and it’s not a measure of american influence on any given day orat any given moment that there are conflicts around the world that are difficult. the conflict innorthern ireland raged for a very, very long time until finally something broke, where theparties decided that it wasn’t worth killing each other.

the palestinian-israeli conflict has been going on even longer than you’ve been reporting. (laughter.) and i don’t think at any point was there a suggestion somehow that america didn’thave influence just because we weren’t able to finalize an israeli-palestinian peace deal.

you will recall that situations like kosovo and bosnia raged on for quite some time, and therewas a lot more death and bloodshed than there has been so far in the ukrainian situation beforeit ultimately did get resolved.

and so i recognize with so many different issues popping up around the world, sometimes itmay seem as if this is an aberration or it’s unusual. but the truth of the matter is, is thatthere’s a big world out there, and that as indispensable as we are to try to lead it, there’s stillgoing to be tragedies out there and there are going to be conflicts. and our job is to just makesure that we continue to project what’s right, what’s just, and that we’re building coalitions oflike-minded countries and partners in order to advance not only our core security interests butalso the interests of the world as a whole.

q: do you think you could have done more?

the president: on which one?

q: on any of them? ukraine?

the president: well look, i think, bill, that the nature of being president is that you’realways asking yourself what more can you do. but with respect to, let’s say, the israeli-palestinian issue, this administration invested an enormous amount to try to bring theparties together around a framework for peace and a two-state solution. john kerry investedan enormous amount of time. in the end, it’s up to the two parties to make a decision. wecan lead them to resolve some of the technical issues and to show them a path, but they’vegot to want it.

with respect to ukraine, i think that we have done everything that we can to support theukrainian government and to deter russia from moving further into ukraine. but short of goingto war, there are going to be some constraints in terms of what we can do if president putin andrussia are ignoring what should be their long-term interests.

right now, what we’ve done is impose sufficient costs on russia that, objectively speaking,they should -- president putin should want to resolve this diplomatically, get these sanctionslifted, get their economy growing again, and have good relations with ukraine. but sometimespeople don’t always act rationally, and they don’t always act based on their medium- or long-term interests. that can’t deter us, though. we’ve just got to stay at it.

wendell.

q: mr. president, republicans point to some of your executive orders as reason, they say, thatthey can’t trust you to implement legislation that they pass. even if you don’t buy thatargument, do you hold yourself totally blameless in the inability it appears to reach agreementwith the republican-led house?

the president: wendell, let’s just take the recent example of immigration. a bipartisan billpassed out of the senate, co-sponsored by not just democrats but some very conservativerepublicans who recognize that the system currently is broken and if, in fact we put moreresources on the border, provide a path in which those undocumented workers who’ve beenliving here for a long time and may have ties here are coming out of the shadows, paying theirtaxes, paying a fine, learning english -- if we fix the legal immigration system so it’s moreefficient, if we are attracting young people who may have studied here to stay here and createjobs here, that that all is going to be good for the economy, it’s going to reduce the deficit, itmight have forestalled some of the problems that we’re seeing now in the rio grande valleywith these unaccompanied children.

and so we have a bipartisan bill, wendell, bipartisan agreement supported by everybody fromlabor to the evangelical community to law enforcement. so the argument isn’t between meand the house republicans. it’s between the house republicans and senate republicans, andhouse republicans and the business community, and house republicans and the evangelicalcommunity. i’m just one of the people they seem to disagree with on this issue.

so that’s on the comprehensive bill. so now we have a short-term crisis with respect to therio grande valley. they say we need more resources, we need tougher border security in thisarea where these unaccompanied children are showing up. we agree. so we put forward asupplemental to give us the additional resources and funding to do exactly what they say weshould be doing, and they can’t pass the bill. they can’t even pass their own version of the that’s not a disagreement between me and the house republicans; that’s a disagreementbetween the house republicans and the house republicans.

the point is that on a range of these issues, whether it’s tax reform, whether it’s reducing thedeficit, whether it’s rebuilding our infrastructure, we have consistently put forward proposalsthat in previous years and previous administrations would not have been considered radicalor left wing; they would have been considered pretty sensible, mainstream approaches tosolving problems.

i include under that, by the way, the affordable care act. that’s a whole other conversation.

and in circumstances where even basic, common-sense, plain, vanilla legislation can’t passbecause house republicans consider it somehow a compromise of their principles, or givingobama a victory, then we’ve got to take action. otherwise, we’re not going to be makingprogress on the things that the american people care about.

q: on the border supplemental -- can you act alone?

the president: well, i’m going to have to act alone because we don’t have enoughresources. we’ve already been very clear -- we’ve run out of money. and we are going to haveto reallocate resources in order to just make sure that some of the basic functions that have totake place down there -- whether it’s making sure that these children are properly housed, ormaking sure we’ve got enough immigration judges to process their cases -- that those thingsget done. we’re going to have to reallocate some resources.

but the broader point, wendell, is that if, in fact, house republicans are concerned about meacting independently of congress -- despite the fact that i’ve taken fewer executive actionsthan my republican predecessor or my democratic predecessor before that, or therepublican predecessor before that -- then the easiest way to solve it is passing things done.

on the supplemental, we agreed on 80 percent of the issues. there were 20 percent of theissues that perhaps there were disagreements between democrats and republicans. as i said toone republican colleague who was down here that i was briefing about some national securityissues, why wouldn’t we just go ahead and pass the 80 percent that we agree on and we’ll try towork to resolve the differences on the other 20 percent? why wouldn’t we do that? and hedidn’t really have a good answer for it.

so there’s no doubt that i can always do better on everything, including making additionalcalls to speaker boehner, and having more conversations with some of the house republicanleadership. but in the end, the challenge i have right now is that they are not able to act evenon what they say their priorities are, and they’re not able to work and compromise even withsenate republicans on certain issues. and they consider what have been traditionallyrepublican-supported initiatives, they consider those as somehow a betrayal of the cause.

take the example of the export-import bank. this is an interesting thing that’s happened. thisis a program in which we help to provide financing to sell american goods and products aroundthe world. every country does this. it’s traditionally been championed by republicans. for somereason, right now the house republicans have decided that we shouldn’t do this -- which meansthat when american companies go overseas and they’re trying to close a sale on selling boeingplanes, for example, or a ge turbine, or some other american product, that has all kinds ofsubcontractors behind it and is creating all kinds of jobs, and all sorts of small businessesdepend on that sale, and that american company is going up against a german company or achinese company, and the chinese and the german company are providing financing and theamerican company isn’t, we may lose that sale.

when did that become something that republicans opposed? it would be like me having a cardealership for ford, and the toyota dealership offers somebody financing and i don’t. we willlose business and we’ll lose jobs if we don’t pass it.

so there’s some big issues where i understand why we have differences. on taxes, republicanswant to maintain some corporate loopholes i think need to be closed because i think that weshould be giving tax breaks to families that are struggling with child care or trying to save for acollege education. on health care, obviously their view is, is that we should not be helping folksget health care, even though it’s through the private marketplace. my view is, is that in acountry as wealthy as ours, we can afford to make sure that everybody has access toaffordable care.

those are legitimate policy arguments. but getting our ambassadors confirmed? these arecareer diplomats, not political types. making sure that we pass legislation to strengthen ourborders and put more folks down there? those shouldn’t be controversial. and i think you’dbe hard-pressed to find an example of where i wouldn’t welcome some reasonable efforts toactually get a bill passed out of congress that i could sign.

last question, michelle kosinski.

q: you made the point that in certain difficult conflicts in the past, both sides had to reach apoint where they were tired of the bloodshed. do you think that we are actually far from thatpoint right now? and is it realistic to try to broker a cease-fire right now when there are stilltunnel operations allowed to continue? is that going to cause a change of approach from thispoint forward?

the president: well, keep in mind that the cease-fire that had been agreed to would havegiven israel the capability to continue to dismantle these tunnel networks, but the israelis candismantle these tunnel networks without going into major population centers in gaza. so ithink the israelis are entirely right that these tunnel networks need to be dismantled. there isa way of doing that while still reducing the bloodshed.

you are right that in past conflicts, sometimes people have to feel deeply the costs. anybodywho has been watching some of these images i’d like to think should recognize the costs. youhave children who are getting killed. you have women, defenseless, who are getting killed. youhave israelis whose lives are disrupted constantly and living in fear. and those are costs thatare avoidable if we’re able to get a cease-fire that preserves israel’s ability to defend itselfand gives it the capacity to have an assurance that they’re not going to be constantlythreatened by rocket fire in the future, and, conversely, an agreement that recognizes thepalestinian need to be able to make a living and the average palestinian’s capacity to live adecent life.

but it’s hard. it’s going to be hard to get there. i think that there’s a lot of anger and there’s alot of despair, and that’s a volatile mix. but we have to keep trying.

and it is -- bill asked earlier about american leadership. part of the reason why america remainsindispensable, part of the essential ingredient in american leadership is that we’re willingto plunge in and try, where other countries don’t bother trying. i mean, the fact of the matteris, is that in all these crises that have been mentioned, there may be some tangential risks tothe united states. in some cases, as in iraq and isis, those are dangers that have to beaddressed right now, and we have to take them very seriously. but for the most part, these arenot -- the rockets aren’t being fired into the united states. the reason we are concerned isbecause we recognize we’ve got some special responsibilities.

we have to have some humility about what we can and can’t accomplish. we have torecognize that our resources are finite, and we’re coming out of a decade of war and ourmilitary has been stretched very hard, as has our budget. nevertheless, we try. we go in thereand we make an effort.

and when i see john kerry going out there and trying to broker a cease-fire, we should all besupporting him. there shouldn’t be a bunch of complaints and second-guessing about, well, ithasn’t happened yet, or nitpicking before he’s had a chance to complete his efforts. because, itell you what, there isn’t any other country that’s going in there and making those efforts.

and more often than not, as a consequence of our involvement, we get better outcomes --not perfect outcomes, not immediate outcomes, but we get better outcomes. and that’s goingto be true with respect to the middle east. that’s going to be true with respect to ’s going to be certainly true with respect to iraq.

and i think it’s useful for me to end by just reminding folks that, in my first term, if i had apress conference like this, typically, everybody would want to ask about the economy and howcome jobs weren’t being created, and how come the housing market is still bad, and why isn’t itworking. well, you know what, what we did worked. and the economy is better. and when i saythat we’ve just had six months of more than 200,000 jobs that hasn’t happened in 17 yearsthat shows you the power of persistence. it shows you that if you stay at it, eventually wemake some progress. all right?

q: what about john brennan?

q: the africa summit -- ebola?

the president: i thought that you guys were going to ask me how i was going to spend mybirthday. what happened to the happy birthday thing?

q: happy birthday.

q: what about john brennan?

q: africa summit?

the president: i will address two points. i’ll address --

q: and flight 17?

the president: hold on, guys. come on. there’s just --

q: and africa.

the president: you’re not that pent up. i’ve been giving you questions lately.

on brennan and the cia, the rdi report has been transmitted, the declassified version that willbe released at the pleasure of the senate committee.

i have full confidence in john brennan. i think he has acknowledged and directly apologized tosenator feinstein that cia personnel did not properly handle an investigation as to howcertain documents that were not authorized to be released to the senate staff got somehowinto the hands of the senate staff. and it’s clear from the ig report that some very poorjudgment was shown in terms of how that was handled. keep in mind, though, that johnbrennan was the person who called for the ig report, and he’s already stood up a task force tomake sure that lessons are learned and mistakes are resolved.

with respect to the larger point of the rdi report itself, even before i came into office i wasvery clear that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 we did some things that were wrong. wedid a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. we did some things thatwere contrary to our values.

i understand why it happened. i think it’s important when we look back to recall how afraidpeople were after the twin towers fell and the pentagon had been hit and the plane inpennsylvania had fallen, and people did not know whether more attacks were imminent, andthere was enormous pressure on our law enforcement and our national security teams to tryto deal with this. and it’s important for us not to feel too sanctimonious in retrospect aboutthe tough job that those folks had. and a lot of those folks were working hard under enormouspressure and are real patriots.

but having said all that, we did some things that were wrong. and that’s what that reportreflects. and that’s the reason why, after i took office, one of the first things i did was to bansome of the extraordinary interrogation techniques that are the subject of that report.

and my hope is, is that this report reminds us once again that the character of our country hasto be measured in part not by what we do when things are easy, but what we do when thingsare hard. and when we engaged in some of these enhanced interrogation techniques,techniques that i believe and i think any fair-minded person would believe were torture, wecrossed a line. and that needs to be -- that needs to be understood and accepted. and we haveto, as a country, take responsibility for that so that, hopefully, we don’t do it again in thefuture.

q: mr. president –

the president: now, i gave you a question.

q: all right.

q: the summit -- the u.s.-africa --

the president: we’ve got a u.s.-africa summit coming up next week. it is going to be anunprecedented gathering of african leaders. the importance of this for america needs to beunderstood. africa is one of the fastest-growing continents in the world. you’ve got six of the 10fastest-growing economies in africa. you have all sorts of other countries like china and braziland india deeply interested in working with africa -- not to extract natural resources alone,which traditionally has been the relationship between africa and the rest of the world -- but nowbecause africa is growing and you’ve got thriving markets and you’ve got entrepreneurs andextraordinary talent among the people there.

and africa also happens to be one of the continents where america is most popular and peoplefeel a real affinity for our way of life. and we’ve made enormous progress over the last severalyears in not just providing traditional aid to africa, helping countries that are suffering frommalnutrition or helping countries that are suffering from aids, but rather partnering andthinking about how can we trade more and how can we do business together. and that’s thekind of relationship that africa is looking for.

and i’ve had conversations over the last several months with u.s. businesses -- some of thebiggest u.s. businesses in the world -- and they say, africa, that’s one of our top priorities; wewant to do business with those folks, and we think that we can create u.s. jobs and send rts to africa. but we’ve got to be engaged, and so this gives us a chance to do that. it alsogives us a chance to talk to africa about security issues -- because, as we’ve seen, terroristnetworks try to find places where governance is weak and security structures are weak. and ifwe want to keep ourselves safe over the long term, then one of the things that we can do ismake sure that we are partnering with some countries that really have pretty effectivesecurity forces and have been deploying themselves in peacekeeping and conflict resolutionefforts in africa. and that, ultimately, can save us and our troops and our military a lot ofmoney if we’ve got strong partners who are able to deal with conflicts in these regions.

so it’s going to be a terrific conference. i won’t lie to you, traffic will be bad here inwashington. (laughter.) i know that everybody has been warned about that, but we are reallylooking forward to this and i think it’s going to be a great success.

now, the last thing i’m going to say about this, because i know that it’s been on people’sminds, is the issue of ebola. this is something that we take very seriously. as soon as there’san outbreak anywhere in the world of any disease that could have significant effects, the cdc isin communication with the world health organization and other multilateral agencies to try tomake sure that we’ve got an appropriate response.

this has been a more aggressive ebola outbreak than we’ve seen in the past. but keep in mindthat it is still affecting parts of three countries, and we’ve got some 50 countries represented atthis summit. we are doing two things with respect to the summit itself. we’re taking theappropriate precautions. folks who are coming from these countries that have even amarginal risk or an infinitesimal risk of having been exposed in some fashion, we’re makingsure we’re doing screening on that end -- as they leave the country. we’ll do additionalscreening when they’re here. we feel confident that the procedures that we’ve put in place areappropriate.

more broadly, the cdc and our various health agencies are going to be working very intentlywith the world health organization and some of our partner countries to make sure that wecan surge some resources down there and organization to these countries that are pretty poorand don’t have a strong public health infrastructure so that we can start containing theproblem.

keep in mind that ebola is not something that is easily transmitted. that’s why, generally,outbreaks dissipate. but the key is identifying, quarantining, isolating those who contract itand making sure that practices are in place that avoid transmission. and it can be done, butit’s got to be done in an organized, systematic way, and that means that we’re going to haveto help these countries accomplish that.

all right? okay.

q: happy birthday, mr. president.

the president: there you go, april. (laughter.) that’s what i was talking about --somebody finally wished me happy birthday -- although it isn’t until monday, you’re right.

thank you so much.

南非总统祖马就曼德拉去世英语演讲稿2017总统演讲稿（4） | 返回目录

my fellow south africans,

our beloved nelson rolihlahla mandela, the founding president of our democratic nation has departed.

he passed on peacefully in the company of his family around 20h50 on the 5th of december XX.

he is now resting. he is now at peace.

our nation has lost its greatest son. our people have lost a father.

although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish(减少) our sense of a profound and enduring loss.

his tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world.

his humility, his compassion, and his humanity earned him their love. our thoughts and prayers are with the mandela family. to them we owe a debt of gratitude.

they have sacrificed much and endured much so that our people could be free.

our thoughts are with his wife mrs graca machel, his former wife ms winnie madikizela-mandela, with his children, his grand-children, his great grand-children and the entire family.

our thoughts are with his friends, comrades and colleagues who fought alongside madiba over the course of a lifetime of struggle.

our thoughts are with the south african people who today mourn the loss of the one person who, more than any other, came to embody their sense of a common nationhood.

our thoughts are with the millions of people across the world who embraced madiba as their own, and who saw his cause as their cause.

this is the moment of our deepest sorrow.

our nation has lost its greatest son.

yet, what made nelson mandela great was precisely what made him human. we saw in him what we seek in ourselves.

and in him we saw so much of ourselves.

fellow south africans,

nelson mandela brought us together, and it is together that we will bid him farewell.

our beloved madiba will be accorded a state funeral.

i have ordered that all flags of the republic of south africa be lowered to half-mast from tomorrow, 6 december, and to remain at half-mast until after the funeral.

as we gather to pay our last respects, let us conduct ourselves with the dignity and respect that madiba personified.

let us be mindful of his wishes and the wishes of his family.

as we gather, wherever we are in the country and wherever we are in the world, let us recall the values for which madiba fought.

let us reaffirm his vision of a society in which none is exploited, oppressed or dispossessed by another.

let us commit ourselves to strive together – sparing neither strength nor courage – to build a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous south africa.

let us express, each in our own way, the deep gratitude we feel for a life spent in service of the people of this country and in the cause of humanity.

this is indeed the moment of our deepest sorrow.

yet it must also be the moment of our greatest determination.

a determination to live as madiba has lived, to strive as madiba has strived and to not rest until we have realised his vision of a truly united south africa, a peaceful and prosperous africa, and a better world.

we will always love you madiba!

may your soul rest in peace.

god bless africa.

nkosi sikelel' iafrika.