Barack Obama’s Top 10 unfulfilled pledges

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6310255/Barack-Obamas-Top-10-unfulfilled-pledges.html

Analysis by Toby Harnden in Washington
Published: 7:53PM BST 12 Oct 2009

PolitiFact, a political accountability project run by Florida’s St Petersburg Times, has formulated an “Obamameter” gauge that registers seven broken promises, a dozen stalled initiatives and 117 pet projects still “in the works”.

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

1.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama said he would “not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days”. But the “sunlight before signing” promise has already fallen by the wayside with Mr Obama signing three major bills without public scrutiny.

1、违背承诺签署法案
奥巴马当初承诺，对于一些非紧急的法案，他将会把法案的详细内容放在白宫网站上至少5天时间，以便让美国民众有机会浏览和评论。在此之前，他将不会仓促地进行签署。而事实上，奥巴马上任后将这一承诺抛之脑后，他在没有公众审看的情况下签署了三项大的法案。

2.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama repeatedly said he would negotiate health care reform in televised sessions broadcast on C-SPAN, the public service network. Instead, he his approach has been no different from his predecessors, holding talks behind closed doors at the White House and Congress.

2、未公开讨论医改方案
奥巴马曾多次表示，他将会通过C-SPAN节目与公众协商讨论医疗改革问题。但事实上，他真实的做法与他的前任们并没有任何区别，在这一问题上白宫只是在与国会进行闭门的磋商。

3.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama solemnly pledged that “no political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years”. In practice, Mr Obama has granted several waivers to this rule, allowing lobbyists to serve in the top reaches of his administration.

3、政治任命仍然存在
奥巴马曾庄言地承诺，在他和副总统拜登主政期间，将不会有任何政治任命的情况发生。事实上，奥巴马随后不久即违背了自己的承诺，直接任命多名当初的游说人员担任政府要职。今年2月份，传出奥巴马竞选期间的主要资金筹募人路易斯-萨斯曼可能会出任美国驻英国大使的消息，这使得奥巴马的用人政策受到外界的质疑与指责。有外交官质疑，这些任命相对奥巴马有关增加透明度和政治变革的言论，传统似乎没有任何改变。美国评论员也称奥巴马将如此要职“赠予自家人”无异于和伊利诺伊州前州长叫卖奥巴马留下的参议员职位一样“丑恶”。

4.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama said he would end income tax for the elderly making less than $50,000 per year, thereby eliminating taxes for seven million of them. This has not been part of his economic stimulus bill, his first budget outline or any legislation proposed by the White House.

4、续征老年人所得税
奥巴马曾承诺，他将免征年收入低于5万美元的老年人的所得税，这一政策将惠及到约700万名美国老人。但在白宫的经济刺激计划、法案和财政预算中，并没有提到这一点。一些反对者认为，老年人不仅获得各种福利和投资回报，经济负担也轻于中青年人，免税有“劫贫济富”之嫌。

5.PROMISE STALLED. On taking office, Mr Obama announced with great fanfare that the Guantanamo Bay prison camp would be closed within a year of his inauguration on January 20th. Defence officials now concede that this self-imposed deadline will not be met.

5、未如期关闭关塔那摩监狱
奥巴马在总统就职演说中宣布，他将会在一年时间内关闭关塔那摩军事监狱。但美国国防部的官员最新证实，在这一时限内关塔那摩军事监狱将不会被关闭。美国政府高级官员透露，虽然关闭关塔那摩监狱是奥巴马在上任之初承诺的第一件事，但关闭的程序履行并非易事，对关押的约225名囚犯的案件进行逐一审核，以及解决如何处理以及安置这些囚犯的问题使得1月前的关闭期限变得不太现实。

6.PROMISE SIDELINED. Mr Obama promised to end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that prohibits openly gay personnel from serving in the United States armed forces. Despite reiterating the pledge this weekend, Mr Obama shows no signs of taking concrete action on the issue.

6、未废止军队同性恋禁令
奥巴马曾承诺，将取消针对公开同性恋者在美国军中服役的“不问，不说”政策。尽管奥巴马本周仍在重复这一说法，但却没有任何迹象显示他采取了切实的措施来解决这一问题。“不问，不说”政策于1993年由克林顿政府执政期间制定。这个政策允许同性恋者服兵役，但条件是他们的性取向不能被公开。如果他们的性取向以文字或行动的方式公开，则将要被解雇。

7.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama said that in 2009 and 2010 “existing businesses will receive a $3,000 refundable tax credit for each additional full-time employee hired”. Democrats on Capitol Hill opposed this and Mr Obama has quietly abandoned the proposal, omitting it from his list of requirements for draft legislation.

7、未能课税扣除3000美元
奥巴马曾承诺，2009年至2010年为每个全职雇员课税扣除3000美元。但后来由于在国会中遭到民主党议员的反对，奥巴马开始对这一政策止口不提，并将它从相关政策法案中删除。今年1月5日，奥巴马向国会提出的减税计划总额约为3000亿美元。虽然奥巴马从未公开一揽子经济刺激计划的总规模，但其过渡团队成员此前已经表示，在2009年至2010年间实行的新计划规模将达到6750亿至7750亿美元，其中40%通过减税来实现。

8.PROMISE BROKEN. During the campaign, Mr Obama promised that “as President I will recognise the Armenian genocide” carried out by the Ottoman Empire after 1915. Once in office, he travelled to Turkey and made no mention of genocide. In a statement in April on the memorial day for the genocide he spoke of the “heavy weight” of history and the “terrible events ” of the period but failed the use the g-word.

8、拒提所谓“亚美尼亚种族屠杀”
奥巴马在竞选总统时表示，他当选总统后将承认土耳其帝国1915年所谓对亚美尼亚人进行的种族屠杀。但当他正式就任总统后，却在访问土耳其期间对此只字不提。

9.PROMISE SIDELINED. As a candidate, Mr Obama highlighted his support for abortion rights, stating he would back this up “by passing the Freedom of Choice Act as president”. At a press conference marking his first 100 days, Mr Obama said this was “not my highest legislative priority” and that it was important to “focus on those areas that we can agree on”.

9、未能通过允许堕胎法案
在竞选总统期间，奥巴马表示将支持女性选择堕胎的权利，并称上台后将推动通过相关的自由选择法案。但在纪念就职100天的新闻发布会上，奥巴马却并没有将此列为优先推动的法案。奥巴马指出，堕胎是一个敏感而且常常是决定性议题，不管大家的看法如何，大家应一致决心防止无意愿的怀孕，减少堕胎的需要，并支持女性以及家庭的决定。

10. PROMISE SIDELINED. Mr Obama promised to end warrantless wiretaps on the domestic communications of Americans and to “update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to provide greater oversight and accountability”. So far, he has taken no action.

10、未停止窃听国内通讯
奥巴马曾承诺停止未经授权即对美国公民的国内通讯进行窃听，同时表示将推动修改《外国情报监视法案》。但时至今日，奥巴马却没有采取任何行动。 911恐怖袭击发生后，时任总统的布什秘密授权国家安全机构对美国的国内通讯进行秘密窃听，而且并没有从联邦法庭获得授权许可。有批评者称，对美国公民的国内通讯进行监听是对民事自由的侵犯。

Here is the top 10 list of most glaring examples of Mr Obama falling short in key areas he trumpeted during his campaign.