"It's not because either of these men are overtly evil."

J.D. Tuccile recently had a dual review of Gene Healy's The Cult of the Presidency and Dana Nelson's Bad for Democracy in the DC Examiner. It's a great read, though the topic isn't exactly cheery. And it's definitely hard to argue with his lede:

What kind of president will the winner of November's national popularity contest be? If history is any judge, the nation's next chief executive, whether Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain, will be something of a monster.

Whole thing here. Healy on "the radical expansion of executive power" here.