Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency

Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy
Author: Charlie Savage 2007 330pp
My rating 3.5*
Started January 12 2008, Finished January 21 2008.

A thoroughly reported, factually dense account and damning account of how the Bush/Cheney administration repeatedly disregarded the checks and balances of the US Constitution in order to further their agenda, in the process undermining the rule of law and transparency of government upon which 200+ years of American democracy are based. The primary legalistic means the administration used to ignore the laws of the land were internal legal opinions authored by hand picked, ideologically compatible cranks (John Yoo) or Presidential Signing Statements whereby Bush provided his “interpretation” of newly passed legislation, essentially directing the executive branch of the government – all the myriad agencies, bureaus, departments and so forth – to not comply with the sections of bills he did not agree with on the grounds that those bills infringed on his constitutionally designated rights as Commander in Chief or that they limited the power the founding fathers intended the President to have under something called the Unitary Executive Theory which was based upon a selective misreading of the Federalist Papers and the validity of which had already been denied by the Supreme Court. The author indicates that almost every President from FDR on had tried to increase the power of the Presidency, but that Bush/Cheney were the most brazen and shameless in doing so, greatly helped by an enabling Republican Congress and the cover provided by national security concerns in the wake of 9/11.

One of this book’s primary strengths and weaknesses is its immediacy, much of what it recounts is so fresh that it straddles the line between history and journalism. While the freshness of its theme certainly imparts relevance – it’s not to late to do something – on the other hand, some historical remove might help separate the really important incidents from those that will not be of much import in the long run and lead to a more thematic structure, rather than a linear chronological account of the administration’s activities. It may behoove the author to publish a second edition or at least an afterword once the administration has left office and all the court cases have been settled, at the very least, because the book went to press with some of the most important issues e.g. military tribunals, still pending before the Supreme Court.