Obama Spokesman Says U.S. Should Have Sent High Profile Representative to March
白宫承认本应派高层参加巴黎游行
WASHINGTON — The White House, facing a barrage of criticism for President Barack Obama's decision not to attend Sunday's peace march in Paris, said Monday that a U.S. official with a higher profile should have been on hand for the show of solidarity.
华盛顿——奥巴马总统决定不参加上周日在巴黎举行的和平游行,于是招致了大量批评。白宫周一表示,当时应该派一个级别更高的官员以展示团结。
“It's fair to say that we should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there,” Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said at his daily briefing with reporters at the White House.
“可以说我们当时该派一位级别更高的官员去那里,”白宫发言人乔希·欧内斯特(Josh Earnest)在白宫举行的每日例行记者会上表示。
Asked his response to critics who say a person with more prominence than the U.S. ambassador to France should have attended, he said: “We agree.”
有批评人士表示,应当派一个职位比美国驻法国大使更高的人参加。在被问到对这种观点如何评价时,他说:“我们同意。”
Earnest declined to say whether the president had considered attending the march himself or sending Vice President Joe Biden, or to detail the conversations that led to the decision not to do so. But he cited scheduling and security concerns as playing a part.
欧内斯特拒绝透露总统本人是否考虑过参加集会、是否考虑过派副总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)参加,他也拒绝透露导致白宫决定不那样做的谈话细节。不过他提到,日程安排和安保方面的问题是一个因素。
“The security requirements around a presidential visit, or even a vice presidential visit are onerous,” Earnest said, noting that security would have had to secure a large outdoor area, potentially making it harder for other people to attend. “It would have been very difficult to do so without significantly impacting the ability of common citizens to participate.”
“总统出访,甚至只是副总统出访的安保要求就十分繁重,”欧内斯特表示。他指出,安保要求可能必须确保广阔的户外区域安全,可能会让其他人参加游行变得更难。“要想这样做,很难不显著地影响普通公民参与的便利性。”
The absence of Obama or any other senior U.S. official in the wake of the shootings of 17 people there in attacks last week at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and at a kosher supermarket — the U.S. ambassador to France, Jane D. Hartley, participated in the rally — prompted questions from Republican lawmakers and some foreign policy analysts who said there should have been a prominent U.S. leader on hand for the most striking show of solidarity in the West against Islamic extremism since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
讽刺报纸《查理周报》(Charlie Hebdo)和一所犹太洁食超市上周受到袭击,导致17人遭枪击身亡,在随后的集会中奥巴马和其他高级美国官员都不见踪影,只有美国驻法国大使简·D·哈特利(Jane D. Hartley)出席。这让共和党议员,以及一些外交政策分析人士提出了质疑,他们表示集会应当有美国的重要领导人参与,认为这是2001年9月11日的袭击事件以来,西方面对伊斯兰极端主义时最引人注目的展示团结之举。
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a potential presidential candidate, called Obama's absence “symbolic of the lack of American leadership on the world stage, and it is dangerous.”
有望成为总统候选人的德克萨斯州共和党参议员特德·克鲁兹(Ted Cruz)称,奥巴马的缺席“象征着美国在世界舞台上缺乏领导力,这是危险的。”
Secretary of State John Kerry announced Monday that he would travel to Paris on Thursday.
国务卿约翰·克里(John Kerry)周一宣布,他将于周四前往巴黎。
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