“When Obama was inaugurated, he and his team had an insight - though whether the insight was conscious or not I don't know. But it was this: The TARP $700 billion price tag was a new kind of model.”

American journalist and conservative political commentator, born 1961

John Mordecai Podhoretz is an American journalist and conservative political commentator. Born in 1961, he has been editor of Commentary since 2009, following a career in newspaper and magazine editing, speechwriting, and political commentary. He previously ran the editorial page of the New York Post and served as deputy editor of The Weekly Standard. Podhoretz also worked as a speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan and in the George H. W. Bush administration, and he has written several books on politics.