Politicians on both sides of America’s political divide have generally felt that compromise would be viewed as a sign of weakness. Moreover, too many have made prior commitments – for example, promising never to increase taxes – that they find hard to break, especially ahead of elections that both sides deem to be of defining significance for the country’s future, reflected in the candidates’ campaigns, which are getting nastier by the day.
总的来说，美国政治分歧双方的政客都认为妥协无异于示弱。此外，太多政客此前已经做出了承诺——比如永不增税——而食言是个艰难的决定，特别是在双方都认为会对美国的未来形成重大影响的大选临近之际，只可以从候选人的日益激烈的竞选口号中一窥端倪。