James Rubin

"This article is about the political commentator. For the art historian, see James H. Rubin."

James Philip "Jamie" Rubin (born 1960 in New York City), is a former assistant to President Bill Clinton and a television news journalist and commentator.

Rubin graduated from Columbia University with a BA in political science in 1982, and a Master of International Affairs (MIA) in 1984 from the School of International and Public Affairs. Early in his career, he was the Assistant Director of Research at the Arms Control Association. [http://www.armscontrol.org] 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. 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. Since July 2006, when Sky News restructured its schedule and cancelled "World News Tonight" amongst other programmes, Rubin has presented a series of special international affairs programmes, expanding his role as a commentator and analyst.

Rubin has been a member of Hillary Clinton's campaign team for the 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". [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2008/03/clinton_aide_slurs_david_trimb.html#commentsanchor] He also stated that Trimble's opinion was not important as he was 'a Protestant', and so 'traditionally conservative'. [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article3555980.ece]

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.” [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23576056/]

Jamie Rubin frequently brings quotes with him in the form of notes to reinforce his position during television interviews. He was recently a guest on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer in a foreign policy discussion with Susan Rice, who is an Obama supporter. [http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/04/27/campaign.foreign.policy.cnn] Recently, he wrote an article, published in the Washington Post, concerning the controversy which arose when it was perceived that Bush had criticized Democratic presidential candidate Barack 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. Some media outlets, including CNN, have accused Rubin of lying. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvQ1AfdXUzo] In his article, and in the video supplied by Rubin only part of what Senator McCain said was referenced, leaving out McCain's statement that any dialog with Hamas would depend upon what Hamas did with regard to renouncing its terrorist and anti-Israel policies, a clear reference to setting conditions for any such dialog.

Personal life

In 1998 Rubin, who at the time was spokesman for the US State Department, married Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent for CNN. A son, Darius John Rubin, was born in 2000, at the family's home in London, England. His sister, Elizabeth Rubin is a journalist and staff writer for "The New York Times Magazine".

External links

* [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/ Official PBS Wideangle website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2008/03/clinton_aide_slurs_david_trimb.html#commentsanchor 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