Crisis and Command: The History of Executive Power from George Washington to George W. Bush

CRISIS AND COMMAND: A HISTORY OF EXECUTIVE POWER FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON TO GEORGE W. BUSH explores the history of presidential power from the Founding of the Republic to modern debates on the war on terror. His approach considers political science, history and law to examine how the Presidency was created and run over the decades, and chooses five great Presidents who served during times of war to consider changing presidency routines and issues. Yoo presents a case for a link between executive power and how it expands with each crisis and emergency.

I read that the Patriot Act was just renewed by the Democratic-controlled Congress and signed by Mr. Obama. So now it should be clear that all those deranged criticisms directed at Bush were exactly what Glen Greenwald recently admitted: poseur morality put forward simply for temporary political opportunity. What hypocrites! And speaking of hypocrites - and naifs - look at the crazed vision of Bush and Cheney which so many of the posters here have running around in their enraged minds. What would these poor fools do if faced with a real dictator, a Josef Stalin perhaps, rather than a calm and civil man like Bush, whose diffidence in pursuing the WOT are well-known. It reminds me of the "Real Last Episode of M.A.S.H.," the one never shown on TV. Hawkeye and BJ, after years of running down the military they were ostensibly part of, and gainsaying the mission of preserving the South Korean people and of war in general, are about to leave Korea. Suddenly, Chinese Communist soldiers overrun the American front and storm into the medical compound. Hawkeye, BJ and the other doctors and nurses are methodically tortured to death by the sadistic Reds before the US Army can counter-attack. Credits. The End.

John Yoo is a serious man. He understands that the Constitution is so precious that sometimes you have to destroy it in order the save it. To him, the Bill of Rights is a bunker on Omaha Beach, a threatening obstacle that has to be taken and burned in order to make our nation more pleasing to Our Dark Lord and Savior, Dick Cheney. Yoo wrote this book to justify such destruction. He served this nation during very dark times. Our Great and Glorious Crusade Against The Unbelievers was underway, but Leader Bush was still stumbling, searching for a justification for His grand adventure. He needed political cover, and he needed it immediately. He summoned the Dark Lord from his undisclosed location and pleaded with him to provide it. Cheney knew what had to be done. Saddam had to be tied to Al Qaeda. As a serious man, he understood that if evidence of such a tie was unavailable, it had to be created. Detainees would need to be coerced into making false confessions. It would require torture, an act that was considered unconstitutional at the time. Cheney turned to another serious man, Yoo--a man who would later tell Congress that the President can legally order a suspect to be burned alive or that his children be tortured--to write a justification for ignoring the Fifth and Eighth Amendments. Yoo served the Dark Lord well by not only justifying torture but by destroying the Fourth Amendment to allow domestic spying as well. I'm giving this book five stars--not because it is well argued or well written (it isn't) but because, like Yoo, I want to help shape our nation according to Lord Cheney's righteously Stalinesque vision. It would be a much better book if Yoo added a few things. Serious men (and all serious people are men or at least have adam's apples) would support the use of suicide bombers in the defence of freedom. Surely, the College Republicans would eagerly volunteer to send the brown, black and poor on such missions. Suicide bombing needs a champion to advocate it as policy. Yoo would be perfect in that role yet he remains silent. Why is that? The book would also be much more interesting if Yoo described what turned him into what he's become. Was it a frequent application of an Oxo Good Grips Brushed Stainless Steel Turner to the soft sweet flesh of his behind? Was it drinking non-fluoridated water? Does he deny his essence to women? Perhaps he can add a chapter for the next printing.

The author acknowledges that "many scholars believe that the exercise of executive power today runs counter to the original constitutional design," but he then suggests that the Founders were not necessarily against Executive Power despite their opposition to King George. He continues with different historical views of the "executive" power. Mr. Yoo quotes a survey of 130 leading political scientists, economists and lawyers who rated the "best" Presidents in American history: Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Reagan, Truman, Eisenhower, Polk and Jackson. He addresses five of the top ten in their own chapters, while Truman, Eisenhower and Reagan are addressed in "The Cold War Presidents" chapter. [The Book consists of nine chapters: (1) Beginnings, (2) Creation, (3) George Washington, (4) Thomas Jefferson, (5) Andrew Jackson, (6) Abraham Lincoln, (7) Franklin D. Roosevelt, (8) The Cold War Presidents (from Eisenhower to Reagan), and (9) The Once and Future Presidency.] Mr. Yoo explains that despite their Republican or Democrat party alignments, the greater Presidents "pushed the envelope" in using broad executive powers that often challenged both the Legislative and Judicial branches. As a strict Constitutionalist, who is concerned about the risks of despotism, I do not share political views that accept ever-expansive powers of the President. However, Yoo's analysis and observations on the history of Presidential powers are worth reading for constitutional-conservatives and left-leaning progressives alike, because he provides insight on how, over the past 220 years, we arrived at where we are today.