Despite his lack of cultural currency, Rubin is known by his co-workers for his candor and self-deprecating humor, qualities that may be revealed with today’s speech.
“I think he’ll take it really seriously and spend a lot of energy thinking about what he wants to say wrapped in a package of self-deprecating humor,” Podesta says.
This humor may not be enough to satisfy the American Indians who plan to protest Rubin’s speech. They accuse Rubin and the Treasury Department of not paying millions of dollars the Federal government owes to Indians living on reservations.
Rubin is not concerned about the protesters.
“It’s litigation with the Department of the Interior and never reached my desk,” he said.
Rubin would not reveal the details of his speech but plans “sort of personal reflections on the way I did things and thought about things and how these were affected by my Harvard experience.”
—Staff writer Nicole B. Usher can be reached at usher@fas.harvard.edu.