Call it the curse of high expectations. When Barack Obama took office, the world swooned, America exhaled and pundits declared an end to centuries of racial division. Gazing at the 1.5m people who braved the cold to witness Mr Obama’s inauguration, Steven Spielberg said it would have been impossible to stage for a movie. That was then. Today America’s first non-white president is winding down at the nation’s tensest moment of racial polarisation in decades. Thanks to Donald Trump, the Ku Klux Klan is back in the headlines. I doubt Mr Trump will succeed Mr Obama as president but he has injected poison into the bloodstream. For all Mr Obama’s hopes, fear is the dominant currency.
你可以说都是期望过高的缘故。巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)就任美国总统时，世界沸腾了，美国松了一口气，权威人士宣告，许多世纪以来的种族对立将画上句号。凝望着不顾严寒在现场见证奥巴马就职典礼的150万民众，史蒂芬•斯皮尔伯格(Steven Spielberg)称，即便为了拍电影也不可能动员这么多人。俱往矣。如今，美国首位非白人总统在本国几十年来最紧张的种族分化时刻却偃旗息鼓了。唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的崛起让三K党(Ku Klux Klan)重新回到新闻头条。我不认为特朗普将接替奥巴马成为美国总统，但他已将毒素注入了美国人民的血液中。无论奥巴马的期望多么美好，恐惧已成为主流情绪。