It's confusing, I know, that there are two high-profile politicos named 'James (Jamie) Rubin'. I also know that tearing into Matt Taibbi is today's sport of choice.
But I'm really getting sick of the following (factually incorrect) argument that's being floated about, as some form of ward against Taibbi's nepotism charges:
The Jamie Rubin on Obama's transition team was a former Clinton diplomat! He's NOT former Treasury Secretary/Citigroup Hearse Driver Bob Rubin's son!
The case against this weak argument, after the fold.
Admittedly, Taibbi does make ONE snafu that we'll get out of the way first:
And to help him pick Obama's economic team, Froman brought in none other than Jamie Rubin, a former Clinton diplomat who happens to be Bob Rubin's son.
Taibbi was incorrect when he said that the Jamie Rubin on Obama's transition team was a former Clinton diplomat. He was accidentally conflating the two Jamie Rubins. The Jamie Rubin who was a former Clinton diplomat is THIS guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
THIS guy was not on Obama's transition team. THIS guy is not Bob Rubin's son. And it says as much in his Wikipedia entry:
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.
That so many people are using this passage to "prove" that Taibbi is wrong, just goes to show that we're not using a whole lot of critical thinking in this.
Counter to the Wikipedia article (which proves nothing, apart from the fact that there ARE two Jamie Rubins and they ARE commonly mistaken for one other) the following articles (which span several years worth of reporting) all indicate that the Jamie Rubin on Obama's transition team IS the same Jamie Rubin who is Bob Rubin's son:
The Nation magazine. March 6, 2009:
http://www.thenation.com/...
Michael Froman, another Rubin student, who was Obama's transition team point person on the economy (the transition team also included Rubin's son James Rubin);
New York Times. November 24, 2008:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
And even the headhunters for Obama have Rubin ties: Michael Froman, who was Rubin's chief of staff in the Treasury Department and followed him to Citigroup, and James Rubin, Robert Rubin's son.
Washington Post. November 5, 2008:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/...
Robert Rubin's son James, now at private equity firm BC Partners;
New York Observer. February 22, 2007:
http://www.observer.com/...
Barack Obama has signed up well-known New York fundraiser: James Rubin. This James Rubin -- not to be confused with the other one -- is the son of Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who is still close to the Clintons.
So really, folks. You're telling me that ALL of these newssources got the story wrong, but we should trust a passage in Wikipedia that doesn't say what you think it says?
Feel free to make all the legitimate arguments you wish against Taibbi's article. I'm sure there probably are a few at least. But this one is patently false.