Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Weekly Address
January 23, 2010

One of the reasons I ran for President was because I believed so strongly that the voices of everyday Americans, hardworking folks doing everything they can to stay afloat, just weren’t being heard over the powerful voices of the special interests in Washington.  And the result was a national agenda too often skewed曲解的，歪斜的 in favor of those with the power to tilt¹ the tables.

In my first year in office, we pushed back on that power by implementing实现，执行 historic reforms to get rid of the influence of those special interests. On my first day in office, we closed the revolving³ door旋转门 between lobbying firms and the government so that no one in my administration would make decisions based on the interests of former or future employers.  We barred gifts from federal lobbyists游说者 to executive branch officials.  We imposed tough restrictions⁴ to prevent funds for our recovery from lining⁵ the pockets of the well-connected, instead of creating jobs for Americans. And for the first time in history, we have publicly disclosed揭露，公布 the names of lobbyists and non-lobbyists alike who visit the White House every day, so that you know what’s going on in the White House – the people’s house.

We’ve been making steady progress. But this week, the United States Supreme⁶ Court handed a huge victory to the special interests and their lobbyists – and a powerful blow to our efforts to rein⁷ in放慢，控制 corporate⁸ influence. This ruling strikes at our democracy itself. By a 5-4 vote, the Court overturned more than a century of law – including a bipartisan两党连立的 campaign finance law written by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold that had barred corporations from using their financial clout影响力 to directly interfere¹⁰ with elections by running advertisements for or against candidates in the crucial closing weeks.

This ruling opens the floodgates水闸 for an unlimited¹¹ amount of special interest money into our democracy. It gives the special interest lobbyists new leverage¹²杠杆作用，手段 to spend millions on advertising¹³ to persuade elected officials to vote their way – or to punish those who don’t. That means that any public servant who has the courage to stand up to the special interests and stand up for the American people can find himself or herself under assault come election time.  Even foreign corporations may now get into the act.

I can’t think of anything more devastating¹⁴ to the public interest. The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington, or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections.

All of us, regardless of不顾，不管 party, should be worried that it will be that much harder to get fair, common-sense financial reforms, or close unwarranted tax loopholes漏税 that reward corporations from sheltering their income or shipping¹⁵ American jobs off-shore.

It will make it more difficult to pass commonsense¹⁶ laws to promote energy independence because even foreign entities¹⁷ would be allowed to mix in our elections.

It would give the health insurance industry even more leverage to fend¹⁸ off挡开，避开 reforms that would protect patients.

We don’t need to give any more voice to the powerful interests that already drown out淹没，压过 the voices of everyday Americans.

And we don’t intend to. When this ruling came down, I instructed my administration to get to work immediately with Members of Congress willing to fight for the American people to develop a forceful, bipartisan response to this decision.  We have begun that work, and it will be a priority for us until we repair the damage that has been done.

A hundred years ago, one of the great Republican Presidents, Teddy Roosevelt, fought to limit special interest spending and influence over American political campaigns and warned of the impact of unbridled无拘束的，放肆的, corporate spending. His message rings as true as ever today, in this age of mass communications, when the decks平台，甲板 are too often stacked against使不利于 ordinary Americans.  And as long as I’m your President, I’ll never stop fighting to make sure that the most powerful voice in Washington belongs to you.