前总统奥巴马周三回应了近期他在竞选途中针对特朗普总统白宫装饰的玩笑引发的轩然大波，抨击共和党人更关注这个玩笑，而非经济问题。
Former President Obama on Wednesday responded to uproar over a recent campaign trail jab at President Trump’s White House decorations, slamming Republicans for focusing more on the joke than on the economy.
“他们针对那个玩笑动员了整个政府的力量进行回应，而不是针对通胀，而是针对那个玩笑，”奥巴马在佐治亚州的一次竞选集会上说。“这就是我说这些人不严肃的意思。他们没有解决实际问题的办法，所以宁愿让媒体和你们谈论‘芝士蛋糕工厂’。”奥巴马近期在俄亥俄州克利夫兰的一次竞选停留中曾调侃说，据报道耗资9亿美元的特朗普品味翻新工程，让白宫“看起来像萨达姆·侯赛因开了一家‘芝士蛋糕工厂’，到处都是金色”，指的是伊拉克宫殿以大量金色装饰而闻名。
“They mobilized a whole-of-government response to that joke, not to inflation, but to that joke,” Obama said during a campaign rally in Georgia. “This is what I mean when I say these are not serious people. They don’t have solutions to actual problems, so they’d rather have the media and you talking about the Cheesecake Factory.”Obama had quipped during a recent campaign stop in Cleveland, Ohio, that Trump’s taste in renovations worth a reported $900 million has the White House “looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory, it’s just gold everywhere,” referring to the Iraqi palaces that were famously adorned with gold decor.
特朗普在进行自己的中期选举巡回造势途中予以反击，称这家连锁餐厅是一家“非常成功的公司”，并称奥巴马是“一位烂总统”。
Trump hit back from the road as he makes his own midterm travel blitz, touting the restaurant chain as a “very successful company” and calling Obama “a lousy president.”
“这不关钱的事。这关乎眼界。奥巴马这类人看不见。他看不见脏污，看不见污秽，看不见建筑上破损的装饰，”特朗普说。“你竟然说它是‘芝士蛋糕工厂’，这正说明了为什么你是一位烂总统。”除了更新装饰并增设他自首个任期起就偏爱的金色标识外，特朗普还主导了玫瑰园的昂贵改造，并在南草坪新建了一座花岗岩直升机停机坪。
“It’s not about money. It’s about seeing. Guys like Obama don’t see it. He doesn’t see dirt, he doesn’t see filth, he doesn’t see broken ornaments on a building,” Trump said. “For you to say it was a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president.”Trump has spearheaded a pricey overhaul to the Rose Garden and constructed a new granite helipad on the South Lawn, in addition to updating decor and adding signage in the gold color he’s favored since his first administration.
周三，奥巴马在佐治亚州为参议员乔恩·奥索夫（民主党-佐治亚州）和州长候选人凯莎·兰斯·博托姆斯造势时，对这场舆论风波一笑置之，表示他“听说总统对我的竞选吐槽不太高兴”。
Rallying for Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia on Wednesday, Obama shrugged off the outcry, saying he’d “heard the president was not happy” with his campaign-trail roast.
“首先，让我把这事记在案上。我是两个女儿的父亲。你们觉得我不去芝士蛋糕工厂能熬过她们的童年吗？我在那十年里几乎住在了查克·E·奇斯、加州披萨厨房和芝士蛋糕工厂。那是我的心头好，”奥巴马说。
“First of all, let me get this on the record. I am the father of two daughters. Do you think I could have survived their childhood without going to the Cheesecake Factory? I lived at Chuck E. Cheese and California Pizza Kitchen and the Cheesecake Factory. That was my jam for about a decade,” Obama said.
“当然，真正的问题是物价涨得太高，很多人都快吃不起外卖了，所以你本以为这届政府会花时间操心这事。但政府对我的演讲做出的回应才有意思。”
“Of course, the real problem is the price has gotten so high, a lot of folks can barely afford to go out to eat, so you would think that this administration would be spending time worrying about that. But that was the interesting thing about how the administration responded to the speech I gave.”
奥巴马辩称，政府“没有反驳”他关于政府直接导致物价上涨的论点——这是全国选民在中期选举中的一个主要议题——并对总统“对萨达姆·侯赛因的比较甚至不生气”表示震惊。他指着财政部长斯科特·贝森特，后者在奥巴马发表上述言论后，在华盛顿一家芝士蛋糕工厂外嘲讽这位前总统，说他“从未想过”让自己的财政部长蒂莫西·盖特纳采取类似行动。
Obama argued that the administration “did not dispute” his argument that they were directly responsible for rising prices, a major midterm issue for voters across the country, and expressing shock that the president “wasn’t even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison.”He pointed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who mocked the former president outside of a Cheesecake Factory in Washington after the comments, saying he “never thought of” having his own Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, make a similar move.
当他抨击国会共和党人不追究特朗普在经济等方面的责任时，奥巴马还提到了他在第二任期谈论外交问题时穿的一套驼色西装引发的轩然大波。
As he railed against Republicans in Congress for not holding Trump to account on the economy and more, Obama also made reference to furor over a tan suit he wore as he spoke about foreign issues during his second presidential term.
“我年纪够大了，还记得总统穿一套驼色西装曾是全国性的重大争议，”这位前总统调侃道。“他们当时很愤怒，而且我知道我穿那套西装很好看。”这场芝士蛋糕工厂的口水战发生在竞争激烈的选举周期末期，特朗普和奥巴马都出来为关键竞选中的候选人助选。
“I am old enough to remember when a president wearing a tan suit was a major national controversy,” the former president quipped. “They were very upset, and I know I looked good in that suit.”The Cheesecake Factory spat comes in the closing days of a highly competitive election cycle that’s brought both Trump and Obama out to stump for candidates in key races.
奥巴马现身“桃子州”佐治亚州，旨在为奥索夫拉票。他说支持奥索夫，“不是因为他长得像肯尼迪家族成员，或者在视频里很帅”，而是因为他能“激起一些良性的麻烦”——连同兰斯·博特姆斯，奥巴马形容她“参选动机纯正”。《国会山报》的非党派选举预测合作伙伴“决策台总部”（DDHQ）给奥索夫击败共和党对手、众议员迈克·柯林斯、赢得第二个参议员任期的胜算评为89%。
Obama’s appearance in the Peach State sought to rally voters for Ossoff, “not because he looks like a Kennedy or handsome in the videos” but because he can “stir up some good trouble,” the president said — along with Lance Bottoms, who he described as “in it for the right reasons.”The Hill’s nonpartisan election forecasting partner, Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ), gives Ossoff an 89 percent chance of beating his GOP opponent, Rep. Mike Collins, to win a second term in the Senate.
州长选举胶着，博特姆斯在对阵共和党亿万富翁里克·杰克逊、接替因任期限制无法连任的州长布赖恩·坎普（共和党）的竞争中，仅以微弱优势领先，属于势均力敌的局面。
The governor’s race is tighter, with Bottoms only narrowly favored in a toss-up race against Republican billionaire Rick Jackson to replace term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp (R).