朗讀 - Obama's speech ...Standing Up to the Special Interests

謝謝水中撈月介紹的一係列總統演講。很喜歡這一篇；自己讀了多遍，但覺得讀不出人家讀的味道，人家畢竟是總統。當總統的膽沒有，但跟讀總統演講的膽量還有。

President Obama Vows to Continue Standing Up to the Special Interests on Behalf of the American People



One of the reasons I ran for President was because I believed so strongly that the voices of everyday Americans, hardworking folks doing everything they can to stay afloat, just weren’t being heard over the powerful voices of the special interests in Washington. And the result was a national agenda too often skewed in favor of those with the power to tilt the tables.

In my first year in office, we pushed back on that power by implementing historic reforms to get rid of the influence of those special interests. On my first day in office, we closed the revolving door between lobbying firms and the government so that no one in my administration would make decisions based on the interests of former or future employers. We barred gifts from federal lobbyists to executive branch officials. We imposed tough restrictions to prevent funds for our recovery from lining the pockets of the well-connected, instead of creating jobs for Americans. And for the first time in history, we have publicly disclosed the names of lobbyists and non-lobbyists alike who visit the White House every day, so that you know what’s going on in the White House – the people’s house.

We’ve been making steady progress. But this week, the United States Supreme Court handed a huge victory to the special interests and their lobbyists – and a powerful blow to our efforts to rein in corporate influence. This ruling strikes at our democracy itself. By a 5-4 vote, the Court overturned more than a century of law – including a bipartisan campaign finance law written by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold that had barred corporations from using their financial clout to directly interfere with elections by running advertisements for or against candidates in the crucial closing weeks.

This ruling opens the floodgates for an unlimited amount of special interest money into our democracy. It gives the special interest lobbyists new leverage to spend millions on advertising to persuade elected officials to vote their way – or to punish those who don’t. That means that any public servant who has the courage to stand up to the special interests and stand up for the American people can find himself or herself under assault come election time. Even foreign corporations may now get into the act.

I can’t think of anything more devastating to the public interest. The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington, or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections.

All of us, regardless of party, should be worried that it will be that much harder to get fair, common-sense financial reforms, or close unwarranted tax loopholes that reward corporations from sheltering their income or shipping American jobs off-shore.

It will make it more difficult to pass commonsense laws to promote energy independence because even foreign entities would be allowed to mix in our elections.

It would give the health insurance industry even more leverage to fend off reforms that would protect patients.

We don’t need to give any more voice to the powerful interests that already drown out the voices of everyday Americans.

And we don’t intend to. When this ruling came down, I instructed my administration to get to work immediately with Members of Congress willing to fight for the American people to develop a forceful, bipartisan response to this decision. We have begun that work, and it will be a priority for us until we repair the damage that has been done.

A hundred years ago, one of the great Republican Presidents, Teddy Roosevelt, fought to limit special interest spending and influence over American political campaigns and warned of the impact of unbridled, corporate spending. His message rings as true as ever today, in this age of mass communications, when the decks are too often stacked against ordinary Americans. And as long as I’m your President, I’ll never stop fighting to make sure that the most powerful voice in Washington belongs to you.

所有跟帖： 

• 頂billnet好讀。 -灰衣人- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/15/2010 postreply 22:10:42

• Nice one. Thank billnet for reading Obama's speech. Good night. -婉蕠- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/15/2010 postreply 22:16:05

• 謝謝灰衣人及婉蕠 -billnet- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/15/2010 postreply 22:40:25

• 美語世界，謝謝將這篇朗讀加入當前活動。 -billnet- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/15/2010 postreply 22:42:21

• 羨慕, 請問怎樣能讀到這麽好? -晴文- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/15/2010 postreply 22:49:58

• 讀的太好了. 我試著後期處理一下,增加點兒氣勢. -ntotl- ♂ (216 bytes) () 05/15/2010 postreply 23:27:32

• 是有氣勢，haha，喜歡。 -戲雨飛鷹- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 07:25:33

• 看來ntotl對錄音製作，後期處理等很內行，謝謝你。 -婉蕠- ♀ (75 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 08:22:25

• 不敢說內行，初級水平。 -ntotl- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 17:21:57

• ntotl has a heart of gold - thanks! -billnet- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 11:10:34

• ding, President Billnet! 5 stars. -戲雨飛鷹- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 07:22:01

• FY, it's you who name me that ... i dare nto myself ...thanks .. -billnet- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 11:26:09

• 你讀的很有總統的神韻：） -戲雨飛鷹- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 12:06:25

• xiexie xiexie1 -billnet- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 18:55:04

• Very good read, Bill -selfselfself- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 07:29:53

• 師傅，輪到你了。你來念一個猛了，我且等著不活第三回呢。 -veggiedoggie- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 08:53:58

• sorry again: 你來念一個猛的，被你們刺激得我，語無倫次了都。 -veggiedoggie- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 08:58:45

• 還有小千，你們都上，我今天打算永重不朽，誰都別攔著我！ -veggiedoggie- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 08:56:25

• sorry，永垂不朽，我用的是五筆。 -veggiedoggie- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 08:57:33

• :-) -billnet- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 11:24:35

• 我要累瓦塌了，饒了我吧！ -小千...千與千尋- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 16:57:38

• 端直好讀，bill下功夫了~~~ -lilac09- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 07:58:17

• 哇，念這麽好，還讓不讓人活了！ -veggiedoggie- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 08:52:14

• Out of town this morning just back - Big Thanks To Everyone! -billnet- ♂ (152 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 11:03:47

• very impressive! -carpediem- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 13:02:29

• 謝謝 carpediem ! -billnet- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 18:51:42

• Bill，你讀的真好！ -小千...千與千尋- ♀ (28 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 16:55:01

• hi 小千, not easy to get your confirmation ... thanks! -billnet- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/16/2010 postreply 18:50:46