克林頓：老布什給我留下的那張便條

Bill Clinton: George H.W. Bush’s Oval Office note to me revealed the heart of who he was

By Bill Clinton

December 1 at 10:03 AM

Bill Clinton was the 42nd president of the United States.

On Jan. 20, 1993, I entered the Oval Office for the first time as president. As is the tradition, waiting for me was a note from my predecessor, George Herbert Walker Bush. It read:

Dear Bill,

When I walked into this office just now I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four years ago. I know you will feel that, too.

I wish you great happiness here. I never felt the loneliness some Presidents have described.

There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. I’m not a very good one to give advice; but just don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course.

You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well.

Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you.

Good Luck — George

1993年1月20日，我第一次進入總統辦公室。按照傳統，等待我的是前任總統喬治·赫伯特·沃克·布什的便條，上面寫著：

親愛的比爾，

在我剛剛走進這間辦公室時，我感受到了同四年前一樣的那般奇妙和敬意。我知道你也會有同樣的感受。

祝你在這裡過得愉快。我從未感受到如一些總統描述的那般孤獨。

你會經歷非常艱難的時期，尤其是受到你可能認為不公平的批評。我不擅長給別人提建議，但是千萬不要讓批評者阻撓你，或者把你推離正軌。

當你讀到這張便條時，你將成為我們的總統。祝你一切順利。祝你全家幸福。

從現在起，你的成功就是我們國家的成功。我永遠為你加油。

祝你好運-喬治

The Oval Office note that George H.W. Bush left for Bill Clinton. (Courtesy of Bill Clinton)

老布什給比爾·克林頓留了的便條。（由克林頓提供）

No words of mine or others can better reveal the heart of who he was than those he wrote himself. He was an honorable, gracious and decent man who believed in the United States, our Constitution, our institutions and our shared future. And he believed in his duty to defend and strengthen them, in victory and defeat. He also had a natural humanity, always hoping with all his heart that others’ journeys would include some of the joy that his family, his service and his adventures gave him.

我或其他人的描述都無法比他自己的話語更能揭示他的內心。他是一個值得尊敬、有禮貌、正派的人，他相信美國，相信我們的憲法、我們的制度和我們共同的未來。他堅信自己有責任捍衛和加強他們，無論是在在勝利還是失敗的時候。他也是一個天性善良的人，總是全心全意地希望別人的生活也會充滿快樂，就像他的家庭，他的工作和他的經歷所給予他的一樣。

His friendship has been one of the great gifts of my life. From Indonesia to Houston, from the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast to Kennebunkport, Maine — where just a few months ago we shared our last visit, as he was surrounded by his family but clearly missing Barbara — I cherished every opportunity I had to learn and laugh with him. I just loved him.

他的友誼是我一生中最偉大的禮物之一。從印尼到休斯敦，從卡特里娜颶風肆虐的海灣海岸到緬因州的肯尼邦克港——就在幾個月前，我們在那裡分享了我們的最後一次訪問，他被他的家人包圍，但顯然失去了芭芭拉（布什的妻子芭芭拉於今年4月辭世——譯註）。我珍惜每一個向他學習、一起歡笑的機會。我就是愛他。

Many people were surprised at our relationship, considering we were once political adversaries. Despite our considerable differences, I had admired many of his accomplishments as president, especially his foreign policy decisions in managing America’s response to the end of the Cold War and his willingness to work with governors of both parties to establish national education goals. Even more important, though he could be tough in a political fight, he was in it for the right reasons: People always came before politics, patriotism before partisanship. To the end, we knew we would never agree on everything, and we agreed that was okay. Honest debate strengthens democracy.

考慮到我們曾經是政治對手，許多人對我們的關係感到驚訝。儘管我們之間有很大分歧，我還是欽佩他作為總統的許多成就，尤其是他在冷戰結束後做出的外交決策，以及他在制定國家教育目標時所展現出的與來自兩個黨派的州長們合作的意願。更重要的是，儘管他在政治鬥爭中可能很強硬，但是他只有在有正確的理由時才這樣做：在他心裡，人總是優先於政治，國家利益總是優先於黨派利益。最後，我們知道我們永遠不會在每件事上達成一致，並且我們同意這沒關係。開誠佈公的辯論有助於維繫民主政治。

While we maintained a respectful, friendly relationship throughout my presidency, it was only when President George W. Bush asked us to jointly spearhead American relief efforts in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and again after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that we got to really know each other. When we met with children who lost their parents in the tsunami, he was moved almost to tears when they gave us drawings they’d made to capture their pain and slow recovery in grief counseling. When we were asked to speak together at Tulane’s graduation in 2006, I saw his genuine feeling for the students, many of whom had suffered in the flooding of New Orleans, and others who had shown heroism and love in caring for their neighbors. “Each of you here has inspired me,” he told them. “When I look at our world, the good I see far outweighs the bad, which maybe explains why I am a real optimist about the future that you all will be facing.”

雖然我們在我擔任總統期間一直保持著尊重、友好的關係，但只有當喬治·W·布什總統（小布什）在2004年印度洋海嘯之後和2005年卡特里娜颶風過後，要求我們共同領導美國救援工作時，我們才真正瞭解了彼此。當我們見到在海嘯中失去父母的孩子時，當他們給我們圖畫時，他幾乎流下了眼淚，這些圖畫記錄著他們的痛苦和在接受心理疏導後的緩慢恢復。2006年，在杜蘭大學的畢業典禮上，當我們被邀請一起講話時，我看到了他對學生們的真誠感情，他們中的許多人在新奧爾良的洪水中受苦，還有些人在照顧鄰居時表現出英雄主義和愛。“你們每個人都鼓舞了我，”他告訴他們。“當我審視我們的世界時，我看到的善遠勝於惡，這也許就是我對你們所有人將面對的未來都抱有真正的樂觀態度的原因。”

Growing old did not rob him of his optimism or his love of competition and adventure. In his book of letters, there’s a wonderful one to his family about getting older, in which he crows about driving his speedboat off the Maine coast. “Still want to compete. I still drive Fidelity II fast — very fast. My best so far — 63 mph in a slight chop with one [Secret Service] agent on board.” I took more than one ride in that boat with him over the years. It was fun but not an experience for the faint of heart. It was the same driving spirit, coupled with heartfelt patriotism, which led him to volunteer for the Navy on his 18th birthday instead of attending Yale, becoming one of the youngest American pilots to get his wings. Even when he was later shot out of the sky, the sole survivor of his close-knit crew, he never feared to go up again — famously learning to skydive at 75.

衰老並沒有使他失去樂觀精神，也沒有使他失去對競爭和冒險的熱愛。在他的書信集中，有一封寫給家人的信絕好地展現出了他對於衰老的態度。在信中，他對自己在緬因州海岸駕駛快艇的成績頗為自豪。“我還是想比賽。我仍然可以把“忠誠2號”開得很快：63英里每小時，這是我有史以來的最好成績，而且當時還有些小碎浪，船上還有一名特工。”這些年來我曾不止一次地和他駕船。這很有趣，但可不是膽小鬼能享受的。同樣的駕駛精神，加上熱誠的愛國精神，使他在18歲生日時自願放棄去耶魯大學報道的機會，而是加入了海軍，成為最年輕的美國飛行員之一。他後來在執行飛行任務時被擊中，成為同一批親密戰友中唯一的倖存者，但即便如此，他也從來沒有對天空產生恐懼。眾所周知，他在75歲高齡時仍決定學習跳傘。

After the war, he took a leap of faith by staking his and his family’s future in the Texas oil business and eventually got into politics. Fifty years ago this spring, as a congressman representing Houston, he voted for the Fair Housing Act of 1968, going against his nearly perfect record of conservative votes in Washington. When he returned to Houston, he held a town hall to explain his vote to a hostile crowd who thought he’d lost his mind. He believed that he could convince them it was the right thing to do, as long as they would hear him out. That evening, at least, he was right. When he was finished talking he got a standing ovation.

戰後，他信心十足地以自己和家人的未來為賭注投在德克薩斯州的石油生意上，並最終進入政界。五十年前的那個春天，作為代表休斯敦的國會議員，他投票贊成1968年的《公平住房法》，這與他在華盛頓近乎完美的保守派投票記錄背道而馳。當他回到休斯敦時，他在市政廳裡向一群認為他已經失去理智的人解釋他的投票。他相信他能說服他們這是正確的做法，只要他們願意聽他的話。他的想法至少在那天晚上應驗了。當他講完話後，眾人起立為他鼓掌。

Given what politics looks like in America and around the world today, it’s easy to sigh and say George H.W. Bush belonged to an era that is gone and never coming back — where our opponents are not our enemies, where we are open to different ideas and changing our minds, where facts matter and where our devotion to our children’s future leads to honest compromise and shared progress. I know what he would say: “Nonsense. It’s your duty to get that America back.”

考慮到當今美國和全世界的政治形勢，我們很容易嘆息說喬治·H·W·布什所處的時代已經一去不復返。那時我們的對手還不是我們的敵人，我們還願意接受不同的觀點，改變我們的想法，那時事實還很重要，我們還會為了孩子們的未來而做出真誠的讓步並共享進步的成果。我知道他會說：“這沒關係，讓美國回來是你們的責任。”

We should all give thanks for George H.W. Bush’s long, good life and honor it by searching, as he always did, for the most American way forward.

我們都應該感謝並尊重喬治·H·W·布什漫長而美好的一生，並且像他一貫做的那樣，繼續尋找最符合美國利益的前進道路。

原載《華盛頓郵報》