I agree that "power behind the throne" is an old figure of speech with nasty implications (as for example "dog-eat-dog" uses dogs as stand-ins for humans and implies cannibalism).

But here's a more scary one for you.

A month or two ago Condi Rice was speaking about the Regime's approach to one thing or another.  She said, "...ever since Bush took power..."

In the US we say "took office", that is the conventional phrase for what a president does when he's sworn in.  

The phrase "took power" is problematic because a) it substitutes "power" for "office," suggesting something more than conventional political succession at work here, and the word "took," past-tens of "take" in this context suggests "taking power" that is not legitimately given (as by the Constitution and the laws of the land).  

Creepy as hell.  I should have grabbed the source of the quote when I first heard it.  You might be able to websearch "Condi" + "Bush took power" and get a result.  

Meanwhile, back to work for me...