Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy [Hardcover]

Charlie Savage (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2007

In 1789, the Founding Fathers came up with a system of checks and balances to keep kingly powers out of the hands of American presidents. But in the 1970s and '80s, a faction of Republican loyalists, outraged by the fall of the imperial presidency after Watergate and the Vietnam War, abandoned conservatives' traditional suspicion of concentrated government power. These men hatched a plot that would allow the White House to return to, or even surpass, the virtually unchecked powers that Richard Nixon had briefly tried to wield. Congress would be defanged, and the commander-in-chief would be able to assert a unilateral dominance both at home and abroad.


Today, this plot is coming to fruition. As Takeover reveals, the Bush-Cheney administration has succeeded in seizing vast powers for the presidency by throwing off many of the restraints placed upon it by Congress, the courts, and the Constitution. This timely book unveils the secret machinations behind the headlines, explaining the links between warrantless wiretapping and the President Bush's Supreme Court nominees, between the torture debate and the secrecy surrounding Vice President Cheney's energy task force, and between the "faith-based initiative" and the holding of US citizens without trial as "enemy combatants." It tells, for the first time, the full story of a hidden agenda three decades in the making, laying out how a group of true believers set out to establish monarchical executive powers that, in the words of one conservative critic, "will lie around like a loaded weapon" ready to be picked up by any future president.

Brilliantly reported and deftly told, Takeover is a searing investigation into how the constitutional balance of our democracy is in danger of being permanently altered. For anyone who cares about America's past, present, and future, it is essential reading.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Savage, who won a Pulitzer for his Boston Globe articles about the signing statements George W. Bush used to negate legislation limiting presidential authority, gives that issue a key part in this account of the Bush administration's efforts to increase executive power. Covering constitutional issues as well as the political backgrounds of former White House attorneys like Alberto Gonzales and John Yoo, this detailed report traces their concerted effort, from the moment Bush took office in 2001, to [leave] the presidency in better shape than he [Bush] found it. The authorization to use force against Iraq is only the tip of the iceberg. Bush has already gone so far as to declare himself able to negate treaties with other nations at will, Savage reports. He also demonstrates how many of the administration's most controversial acts have their roots in Dick Cheney's experiences in the Nixon and Ford administrations. This incisive analysis of congressional and judicial efforts to check the administration's power grabs adds up to a searing indictment. (Sept. 5)
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From Booklist

Boston Globe reporter Savage begins by detailing Vice President Cheney's extraordinary actions on 9/11, ordering the military to shoot down a civilian aircraft that had apparently been hijacked, without consulting with President Bush. Although the order was never executed, it demonstrated Cheney's command of the administration, which has given him free rein to implement a long-held ambition to shift power in favor of the presidency and to secure that shift for generations to come. Savage recounts the tumultuous history of the power struggle between the executive and legislative branches of government as well as Cheney's own personal history. Cheney served his political apprenticeship in the Nixon administration, famous for its tugs-of-war with Congress over executive privilege, as well as the administrations of Ford, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. In this troubling look at the abuse of power, Savage also details Cheney's involvement in seizing presidential power to authorize wiretapping, torture, and imprisonment of citizens without trial. Bush, Vanessa

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; First Edition edition (September 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316118044
• ISBN-13: 978-0316118040
• Product Dimensions: 1.3 x 6 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #784,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

194 of 200 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Researched, Thoughtful, and Important! September 5, 2007

By Loyd E. Eskildson HALL OF FAME

Format:Hardcover

There have been lots of books about the Bush-Cheney administration, and considerable coverage of efforts to increase presidential power. However, "Takeover's" well-researched, thoughtful and important material requires no outside leverage to gain a prominent spot amongst them.

Savage's summary asserts that Bush-Cheney have succeeded in seizing vast powers for the presidency by ignoring many of the restraints placed on it by Congress, the courts, and the Constitution. Warrantless waretapping, politicization of the Justice Department and the torture debate, use of "signing statements" to claim a right to defy new laws, efforts to impose greater control over military JAG lawyers, secrecy behind Cheney's energy task force (and innumerable other government actions), and holding U.S. citizens without trial as "enemy combatants" have all served this end.

Savage clearly sees Cheney as the force behind these moves, citing Cheney's earlier experiences and actions in government, beginning in the Nixon administration within the Office of Economic Opportunity with Don Rumsfeld, on to episodes of classified information disclosure (eg. illegal CIA spying on Americans, U.S. submarines eavesdropping on Soviet cables), Cheney's restricting access to President Ford by those with competing viewpoints (also reduced likelihood of leaks), and efforts within Congress to support Reagan-Bush power grabs (eg. forcing executive agencies to submit proposed rules to the White House before they could take effect).

The Bush-Cheney powergrab began immediately upon assuming the office. White House Counsel Gonzales was assigned a support role almost on the administration's opening day. September 11 clearly was a God-send to the Bush-Cheney efforts - protecting national security became the all-purpose rationale for more secrecy and more presidential power. However, it was not until January, 2002 that Cheney openly took ownership of the agenda to expand these powers.

Secrecy was extended wherever possible, even to rather mundane topics under the logic that even little pieces could be put together to provide information to terrorists. Republican congressional leadership was only too willing to assist by failing to oversee executive actions, and even restricting congressmen from mentioning the contents of intelligence authorization bills, for fear of criminal prosecution and expulsion. The administration also succeeded in shutting down embarrassing court cases (eg. claiming failure to pursue espionage) on the grounds of needed secrecy. Finally, suppressing scientific findings and rewriting reports has also been a major Bush secrecy tool.

Bush's power-grab even included abrogating signed international treaties. One of the administration's earliest actions was informing the Soviets that we would no longer be bound by the 1972 ABM treaty. The Geneva Accords followed, described as "quaint" by Gonzales, was later circumvented through a number of actions - Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib imprisonments, secret renditions, torture, plans for military tribunals at which defendants would not necessarily know what the evidence was against them, over-ruling JAG leadership, etc.

One of the best-known actions was Gonzales' effort to get A.G. Ashcroft to approve the administration's wiretapping program legality - while Ashcroft was under heavy sedation in an ICU bed. Ashcroft stood by his earlier refusal, while also reaffirming that he was no longer A.G. - he had temporarily ceded his power while in the hospital. (Bush authorized the program anyway. No wonder Ashcroft was booted at the beginning of Bush's second term!)

By the seventh year of Bush-Cheney, Bush had attached signing statements to about 150 bills and referenced 1,100 sections. (The latter figure compares to about 600 for all prior presidents. To be fair, Reagan was the primary prior promulgator.) During this same period, Bush vetoed only two bills. Those puzzled by the discrepancy soon realized that Bush's actions were equivalent to a line-item veto - banned by the Supreme Court in 1998, though supported by future Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in a memo where he advocated implementation in slow motion so that opponents would be less likely to realize what was happening.

"Signing statements" have also been used by Bush as a means of controlling subordinates in the executive branch (another dimension of the Unitary Executive), and a way of combating "veto-proof" bills. All new bills are now reviewed by Cheney's staff for possible signing statements.

Why have signing statements continued? Savage contends that it is difficult to contest them in court, between all the administration's secrecy and the general inability to acquire legal standing.

So now we have a much-weakened system of government, per Savage. The question is "What will happen in the future?" These new tools lie ready to be used in any new "important cause," and may not be willingly put aside. In the meantime, our civics books are clearly out of date.

64 of 68 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The makings of an evil empire October 20, 2007

By Jon Hunt

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

With each successive year, the Bush-Cheney administration gets scarier and undoubtedly more out of control. Political grabs for power have always been the name of the game in Washington, but the current White House has taken it to new and unprecedented levels, subverting the Constitution along the way. Charlie Savage's terrific new book, "Takeover", charts the "progress" of the Bush years and with it offers up some startling results.

It's been known for some time now that the run up to the war in Iraq was based on conjecture. As Savage reminds us, Tony Blair's cabinet had correctly surmised that (regarding the potential invasion) "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy". This was only the beginning for the Bush people and, having gotten their way with that, the rush to accumulate power within the executive branch of government was underway. Castrating Congress, disregarding the courts and avoiding public opinion, the administration went on a tear. Legalisms became the norm in order to sidestep the law as the White House pulled the wagons in closer and tighter.

One of the main thrusts of "Takeover" is a discussion about Unitary Executive Theory which amounts to an idea that an executive can ignore previous laws, precedents that are attached to them and to do pretty much at will as he so desires. This often takes the form of "signing statements". It is here that Savage really makes his case for how far out on a limb Bush-Cheney have gone. With their team of lawyers working seemingly around the clock to get around anything that might get in the way, (and in their mind, "weaken" the executive branch) Savage adeptly and successfully crashes their party. He documents the egregiousness and the shameful tactics that Bush has gone to with results that will be long-lasting. The precedents they set now are really the worst part and any future president can then look back on these years and claim them as their own. In the wrong hands, this could be devastating.

I highly recommend "Takeover" for the author's uncovering and recounting yet more of the disgrace that this administration has brought to America. It's a searing account of the past six and a half years in Washington and portends an even more frightful last year or so with Bush-Cheney in control. One would hope that Charlie Savage is working on a sequel that will deliver a final exposé to this most corrupt and harmful presidency.

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Necessary Evil, A Must Read! October 3, 2007

By W. P. Strange

Format:Hardcover

The number of books being written about the excesses of the Bush years increase almost daily, and keeping up with all of them is becoming nothing short of impossible. That said, keep in mind that not much is new from volume to volume, but "Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency..." covers most of the issues competently if not completely.

It is difficult for some readers, especially those who refuse to see the inadequecies and subversions of this presidency to read books that are not flattering, but hopefully they can leave their ideology for a while.

Had some of the events that took place within the oval office during the last six years occured during the previous administration there would have been very credible reasons to seek impeachment, and the failure of Congress to demand a better accounting of the insane power grabs is incomprehensible, but partisan politics seems to be the only measure to take, not take action. America has lost so much credibility during this imperial presidency that it will take decades to even begin to repair some of the damage, and then only if our politicians on both sides of the aisle wake up, and soon.