Biz media gives Rubin a pass

TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs wants to know why new Citigroup CEO Robert Rubin has gotten positive coverage from the business media this week when he helped cause its problems.

Fuchs wrote, “This means that as Citigroup got involved in the actions and activities that are now helping it unspool, Rubin was the Tom Hagen, or consigliere, of the past two CEOs, sitting in the office next to Sandy Weill and Chuck Prince, giving his esteemed advice for $15 million a year and use of a jet.

“It’s good work if you can get it, but that a man who was part of the problem can be written up as white-hat savior — even in this day of endless write-offs and fired CEOs — is a prime example of just how sycophantic the business media is. And just how careful you, the savvy investor, must be.

“Here’s the thing: The Business Press Maven has historically been a big Rubin fan. Though I don’t by nature or nurture like government figures of any political affiliation — normally scared off by the personality disorders that got them into politics in the first place — I do think Rubin served well as Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton. And there can be little disputing that, leading up to his tenure in Washington, Rubin had a brilliant career at Goldman Sachs.”

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