When President Obama took the stage here Wednesday to address a community — and a nation — traumatized by Saturday’s shootings rampage in Tucson, Arizona, it invited comparisons to President George W. Bush’s speech to the nation after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the memorial service President Bill Clinton led after the bombing of a federal office building killed 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995.

本周三，奥巴马总统登台演讲，就上周六亚利桑那州图森市所发生的枪击惨案向饱受心灵创伤的公众及全国发表演讲，人们不禁联想到，布什总统在2001年911袭击之后的演讲、以及1995年克林顿总统为俄克拉荷马州联邦政府大楼爆炸中的168名遇害者举行的追悼会。

But Osama’s appearance presented a deeper challenge, reflecting the tenor of his times. Unlike those tragedies---which, at least initially, united a mournful country and quieted partisan divisions---this one has, in the days since the killings, had the opposite effect, inflaming the divide.

然而，奥巴马的公开露面展现了一个更大的挑战，也映射出他所处时代的要旨。以往那些惨案使整个国家在哀悼中团结一致，党派分歧也销声匿迹——至少惨案发生初期是这样的。而本次的枪击惨案却恰恰相反，激化了党派间的分歧。

It was a political reality Mr. Obama seemed to recognize the moment he took the stage. He directly confronted the political debate that erupted after the rampage, asking people of all beliefs not to use the tragedy to turn on one another. He called for an end to partisan recriminations, and for a unity that has seemed increasingly elusive as each day has brought more harsh condemnations from the left and the right. It was one of the most powerful addresses that Mr. Obama has delivered as president, harnessing the emotion generated by the shock and loss from Saturday’s shootings to urge Americans “to remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together”.

奥巴马登台不久，便意识到了这一政治现实。他直接针对枪击惨案发生后引发的政治辩论，呼吁所有持不同宗教信仰的人们不要借机针锋相对。他呼吁各党派停止相互指责，同时呼吁各党派团结起来。因各党派之间的指责日益严厉且锋芒毕露，团结已经渐行渐远。本次演说是奥巴马担任总统以来发表的最具号召力的一次，他在演讲中巧妙利用了美国人因枪杀事件而产生的震惊与悲痛，敦促美国人“时刻提醒自己，我们因希望和梦想而团结在一起”。