[chc]

Given that Apple could have actually taken away root's power if they wanted to, it seems kind of inaccurate to call this an attempt to do so. They have given the user the option to have root on or off with a default of "off." They didn't attempt to disable root and fail.

I understand your concerns about taking away user power, but this doesn't seem to be that. The user still has the power to do the same things, they just have to decide that they want it. You could just as well say that not making the system files world-writable takes away the user's power, but in fact it's just locked behind a door that the user has the power to open.