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False Idol: Barack Obama and the Continuing Cult of the Presidency by [Gene Healy]

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Gene Healy

False Idol: Barack Obama and the Continuing Cult of the Presidency Kindle Edition

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In the waning days of the Bush administration, the Cato Institute published Gene Healy’s The Cult of the Presidency: America’s Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power, which argued that the demands we place on the presidency have turned it into a constitutional monstrosity: too powerful to be trusted, and too weak to fulfill all the demands we invest in it. George Will called the book “the year’s most pertinent and sobering public affairs book”; and the Economist noted that it “was written while Barack Obama's career was still on the launch pad, yet it describes with uncanny prescience the atmosphere that allowed him to soar.”

Now, with the 2012 presidential election upon us, in his timely new ebook False Idol: Barack Obama and the Continuing Cult of the Presidency, Healy examines the causes and consequences of a presidential cult. President Obama claims broad power over the U.S. economy; fires the CEO of General Motors; extends federal control over Americans’ health insurance plans; claims the power to launch wars without congressional authorization and assassinate American citizens abroad, far from any battlefield. False Idol demonstrates that the vision of the presidency Obama embodies has led to a dangerous concentration of power in an office primarily designed for faithful execution of the laws.

Sharply focused and rigorously researched, False Idol is also a highly compelling examination of our national fixation with being led, comforted, and delivered by a presidential savior. Decades of longing for a national redeemer have forged an institution that promises everything and guarantees nothing, save public frustration and the steady growth of federal power. A constitutional restoration can only begin, Healy shows, when Americans turn away from false idols and false hope.

Print length

92 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Cato Institute
Publication date

October 17, 2012
File size

434 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B009RUR0NO
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cato Institute (October 17, 2012)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 17, 2012
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 434 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 92 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #1,711,899 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #900 in Two-Hour Politics & Social Sciences Short Reads
- #3,775 in Federal Government
- #4,267 in United States Executive Government

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25 ratings

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Ron P.

Timely sequel to "Cult of the Presidency"

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2013

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Great update on the progress we Americans are making in ceding all power to whomever occupies this office. Will we ever wake up and realize that the person we elect every four years cannot even come close to solving all of our problems and that the founding fathers never intended the Executive branch to wield this kind of power?

2 people found this helpful

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Lee R. Himelfarb

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2018

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excellent service

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William Henley

Obama; neither savior nor real problem

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2013

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Gene Healy is the author of a very worthwhile book, THE CULT OF THE PRESIDENCY, which was originally written and published late in the George W. Bush administration. This ebook is an update of the themes of that earlier book, as they apply to the first term of President Barack Obama. (This book was written before the 2012 election.) Healy begins by detailing how his view of the President as a "cult" object was carried to literal and absurd lengths during the 2008 campaign and the early part of Obama's term; with Obama being viewed by many as a messiah capable of miraculously "transforming America" and solving all the nation's problems. Healy then goes on to note how Obama failed to meet most of these overheated expectations. He deals particularly with Obama's record on civil liberties. It was hoped by many that Obama, once a constitutional law professor, would relinquish some of the excessive Presidential powers claimed by G.W. Bush on "war on terror" grounds. Instead, Obama has not only kept and exercised nearly all those powers, but added new ones. such as sending drones to "execute" American citizens without trial, and making war in Libya without Congressional consent (which Bush got for the Iraq invasion). And most of Obama's supportes don't seem to mind. (But the hypocrisy runs both ways; Healy notes how Republican lawyer John Yoo, who worked for the Bush administration and claimed that Bush was entitled to act as a virtual elected dictator, has suddenly discovered Constitutional limitations on Presidential power now that Obama is in office.)
THis is not, however, one of those "Obama is a Communist/socialist/foreigner/secret Muslim/crazed radical plotting to destroy America" books. Healy states that his title "False Idol" refers to the Presidency itself and not just to Obama in particular. He scoffs at the more outre right-wing theories about Obama's motivations, and he rejects the idea that our problems can be solved simply by getting rid of Obama and electing a Republican as President. (Mitt Romney is only mentioned briefly, but not in a positive light.) Republican Presidents have been, and will be again, viewed as cult objects. Healy thinks we should give up the idea that any President can be a savior solving every problem, as this only sets Presidents up for failure, and encourages Presidents to grab for more power (in a reversal of Spider-Man's slogan, "Great respnsibility requires great power"). He would like to see Congress and the judicial branch, reclaim some of the powers which they have allowed the President to usurp.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in politics and government, whether friend or foe of Obama. Then, if you haven't already read it, look up the earlier book CULT OF THE PRESIDENCY.

7 people found this helpful

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Q. Langley

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2018

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An important follow-up to Healey's magisterial look at the Cult of the Presidency.

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Kindle Customer

This book sould be required reading at all grade levels.

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2012

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I recommend everyone read this book. Mostly those who think Obama is our savior. I couldn't put it down, I mean my Kindle, and I was sadden when I finished it. I wanted more!

2 people found this helpful

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James Glidewell

Wake Up America

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2013

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Quick look at Presidency & why we put too much hope in one man - like the one we have now!

3 people found this helpful

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Bill Mac

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2015

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IT tells the truth about our current what dio you call him? Not President!!!!!

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cmcdave

The new front

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2013

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Outstanding read. Anyone who is as frustrated and disgusted with the two party system will come away convinced we need a change. This from a life-long conservative.

2 people found this helpful

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