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As President Reagan gets ready for this weekend's meeting with Soviet leader Gorbachev,
里根总统正在为本周末与苏联领导人戈尔巴乔夫的会晤做准备，
commentator Cal Thomas thinks that House Democrats are depriving the President
对此，评论员卡尔·托马斯认为，众议院的多位民主党议员正在
of the most important thing he could take to Iceland, a clear control over US foreign policy.
架空里根总统冰岛之行中最为重要的一项权利：对美国外交政策的明确控制权。
House majority leader Jim Wright isn't even Speaker of the House yet, and already he is acting as if he were President.
众议院多数席位领袖吉姆·赖特目前还没有当选议长，但其驾驶俨如总统一般。
Wright has offered President Reagan a deal.
赖特向里根总统递交了一份协议。
He says he and House Democrats will delay a showdown with the White House over arms control until next year
赖特表示，自己会联手众议院多位民主党议员，将政府因军备控制一事而决定采取的停摆推迟到明年，
if the President will agree to terms for future consideration of constraints on strategic weapons and other House arms control strategies.
所以就算里根总统批准未来限制战略性武器等众议院有关军备控制策略的条款也没用了。
These would include abiding by weapons limits in the unratified SALT II Treaty, which the Soviets have repeatedly violated.
其中包括：遵守二期削减战略武器条约有关军备限制的内容，而这是苏联多次违背的条款。
This type of behavior on the eve of a meeting in Iceland
里根总统与戈尔巴乔夫在冰岛会晤前夕
between the President and Mikhail Gorbachev would be unseemly enough for any member of Congress.
出现这种行为很不得体，实在让国会议员忍无可忍。
But for major Democratic leader it is unconscionable.
但对于主要的民主党领袖来说，这是极不得体的行为。
Why should Gorbachev feel any need to negotiate with the President if House Democrats led by Jim Wright are doing his job for him?
如果吉姆·赖特领导的众议院民主党越俎代庖地做了总统的工作，那戈尔巴乔夫应该就会觉得没有必要跟里根总统会谈了。
Gorbachev, of course, is under no such pressure since members of the Politburo in one-party Russia
戈尔巴乔夫方面当然是毫无压力了，因为苏联政治局是一党专政，
compete only for the privilege of being the loudest ratifier of Gorbachev policies.
所以议员满心想的都是如何为戈尔巴乔夫的政策溜须吹马。
Wright, who was a co-signer of a 1984 "Dear Commandant" letter to Nicaragua's Marxist dictator Daniel Ortega,
1984年，赖特曾联名签署了《亲爱的指挥官》信函，这封信是写给尼加拉瓜的马克思主义独裁者丹尼尔·奥尔特加。
in which, among other things, he deplored his own country's policies against the Central American nation,
他在信中提到，跟尼加拉瓜这个中美洲国家对比，美国的政策黯然失色，
apparently believes that cutting a deal with the Soviets in which we all will live in a safer world is like a mating game.
与苏联断绝协议关系，世界就能更加安全，这就像是配对游戏一样。
One must make the right moves before the other party shows any interest.
在一方表现出有兴趣之前，另一方一步都不能走错。
The Soviets are pressing ahead on all fronts, offensive and defensive weapons and laser technology,
苏联在各方面齐头并进，比如进攻武器和防卫武器、激光技术，
even while they denounce the United States for conducting research on its own strategic defense initiative.
但同时苏联还谴责美国研制自己的战略型防卫武器。
Will they be impressed by the good will Congressman Wright
议员赖特竭力在冰岛面前限制里根总统的权力，
thinks he is displaying by trying to tie the President's hands before Iceland? Hardly.
以求展现善意，但苏联会领情吗？不太可能。
Gorbachev will try to tie the President's feet as well.
戈尔巴乔夫也会限制里根总统的权力。
The history of this country before the Vietnam War was that the President of the United States set American foreign policy.
在越南战争之前，这个国家一向认为是美国总统设定了美国的外交政策。
The Congress advised and debated, but in the end it was the President who prevailed if differences arose.
国会会建言献策，会争论不休，但最后如果还是有分歧的话，依然是总统拍板儿。
Now it is the Congress that is making foreign policy: on South Africa, on Central America,
而现在，是国会制定外交政策：无论是对南非的、
and, on the most dangerous level of all, with our chief adversary, the Soviet Union.
对中美洲的甚至是在最危险层面上的，对我们的主要对手苏联。
There is no room for mistakes in dealing with the Soviets, but Jim Wright and the House Democrats are making them.
在与苏联有关的问题上，不容有错。但吉姆·赖特和众议院民主党议员正在犯错。
Gorbachev will arrive in Reykjavik well rested, knowing that much of his work will have already been done for him by Jim Wright.
戈尔巴乔夫精神抖擞地抵达雷克雅维克，却只会发现里根总统的大部分工作已经被吉姆·赖特做了。
No wonder he's bringing his wife. There will be plenty of spare time for socializing.
怪不得他会带上妻子。因为有很多空闲时间可以社交啊。
Cal Thomas is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
以上为《洛杉矶时报》专栏作家卡尔·托马斯所写。
