James Rubin - Biography

James Philip "Jamie" Rubin (born 1960 in New York City) is a former diplomat and journalist. He is currently an executive editor at Bloomberg News. Having served in the State Department during the administration of President Bill Clinton, he became a Sky News television news journalist and commentator. He is married to former CNN chief international correspondent and current anchor of ABC's This Week Christiane Amanpour. He is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

Biography

Education and early career

Rubin graduated from Columbia with a BA in political science in 1982, and a Master of International Affairs (MIA) in 1984 from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. At Columbia, Rubin was a student of Zalmay Khalilzad, later U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations under President George W. Bush. Rubin also attended Boston University. Early in his career, he was the Assistant Director of Research at the Arms Control Association.

Clinton administration

He went on to serve under President Clinton as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Chief Spokesman for the State Department from 1997 to May 2000. In the Clinton administration, he was considered Secretary Madeleine Albright's right-hand man.

Career in academia, politics and media

Since leaving government, Rubin has been a Visiting Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics; a partner at communications consultancy Brunswick and – in 2002 and 2003 – the host of PBS's Wide Angle series, a weekly international affairs program.

After serving as chief foreign policy spokesman for General Wesley Clark's presidential campaign, Rubin worked for Democratic nominee John Kerry, serving as a senior advisor for national security affairs.

In October 2005, Rubin became lead news anchor on World News Tonight on Sky News. In July 2006, Sky News restructured its schedule and cancelled World News Tonight.

He is currently an executive editor at Bloomberg News.

Bloomberg

Rubin joined Bloomberg in January 2011 and oversees editorial issues of Bloomberg News in Central and South America, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. He also leads Bloomberg View, a Bloomberg op-ed project, with David Shipley.

When announced he would be joining Bloomberg, Rubin said:

“I look forward to joining Bloomberg at a time when rational thought and commentary in the media is needed now more than ever before.”

Support for Hillary Clinton candidacy

Rubin was a member of Hillary Clinton's campaign team for the 2008 Democratic nomination. He caused some controversy when he described Lord Trimble the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of Northern Ireland as a "crankpot" for stating that Hillary Clinton's claim to have been "helpful" in the Northern Irish peace process was, "A wee bit silly". He also stated that Trimble's opinion was not important as he was 'a Protestant', and so 'traditionally conservative'.

In another interview, also on MSNBC, Rubin quoted the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, John Hume, as saying:

I am quite surprised that anyone would suggest that Hillary Clinton did not perform important work as first lady in the area of foreign policy. I can state from firsthand experience that she played a positive role for over a decade in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland. She visited Northern Ireland, met with very many people and gave decisive support to the peace process.

Later in the same interview, Rubin recounted a conversation he had with former US Senator and US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland George Mitchell:

“And as it happens a week ago I was at a dinner with George Mitchell and asked him about this. And he said pretty much the same thing. I don’t understand why people are questioning this? I had a lot of experience with Hillary doing things that were helpful to me.”[1]

"I also maintain my love for scootering around London", he added.

Jamie Rubin frequently brings quotes with him in the form of notes to reinforce his position during television interviews. During the 2008 campaign, he was a guest on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer in a foreign policy discussion with Susan Rice, who became Obama's nominee for Ambassador to the United Nations.

Recently, he wrote an article, published in the Washington Post, concerning the controversy which arose when it was perceived that Bush had criticized Obama during a foreign visit to Israel. Rubin accused John McCain, who defended Bush, of "hypocrisy" as McCain had records of supporting dialogue with the Hamas in the past.

Current activities

Rubin is currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University.

Personal life

He is the son of publisher Harvey Rubin and his wife Judith. Many people mistakenly think is he is the son of former Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration, Robert Rubin, who also has a son known as Jamie.

James' sister Elizabeth Rubin is a journalist and staff writer for The New York Times Magazine.

In 1998 Rubin, who at the time was spokesman for the US State Department, married Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent for CNN. Their son, Darius John Rubin, was born in 2000.

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External links

• Official PBS Wideangle website
• Clinton aide slurs David Trimble as a "crankpot" BBC
• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23812866#23812866
• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23576056/
• http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/04/27/campaign.foreign.policy.cnn
• NYT, Jackie Calmes, Rubinomics Recalculated, November 23, 2008.