Jamie Rubin: Obama Is Unflappable, And So Am I

Yesterday while at Media 3 in midtown, after my interview with my colleague Jeffrey Feldman , I was working in the lounge when I heard a jovial voice boom out a greeting to the girls who run the studio, and looked up. It was Jamie Rubin, former Clinton assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and State Department spokesperson, plus many other things since then, all involving immersion in foreign policy and other matters of national import. So naturally the first thing he wanted to do after finishing his TV segment in the eleventh hour of the biggest election in years — superimposed on the biggest financial crisis in decades — was be body-blocked on his way out by a blogger with a Canon Elph and a dream.

Actually, he could not have been more gracious, and I was happy to have the chance to ask him about the global financial crisis, how interlinked worldwide financial institutions really are, and what qualities he thinks makes Obama an outstanding presidential candidate — having worked with a bevy himself. His answer: Unflappabiliy, which Rubin himself exhibited under my relentless questioning about who might be a President Obama's Secretary of State. See his thoughts below, and be proud of me for resisting the impulse to blurt, "Your wife is awesome!" Watch: