If you look at historic antecedents — the courts of the later Chinese emperors and the Byzantine emperors of the late Middle Ages come to mind — there is, unfortunately, nothing surprising in McClellan’s account.

When there is an accumulation of unchecked power, as there has been in the American presidency over the last century, these kinds of abuses become standard operating procedure for the “ministers” and “courtiers.” The denizens and workings of the White House most closely resemble those of old Beijing and Constantinople, or the imperial court of ancient Rome.

While McClellan’s book is instructive on the particular venalities of the Bush White House, it would be a mistake, in my opinion, to believe that simply changing the occupants of the White House will make any significant difference. Precedents have long been set and abuses of power are virtually institutionalized in the presidency as it now exists.

It will require much more than the election of someone else as president to make the fundamental changes necessary to roll back the authoritarian trend in the federal government.

Chief among those changes will be for ordinary Americans to revise what seems to be our consensus that the president is a kind of elected god-king or messiah.