THE TRUTH ABOUT PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ORDERS

(Photo courtesy of WikiMedia.)

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

I believe even my most staunch Republican friends are interested in accuracy. No one likes to find out they’ve bought into bad information, right?

So, to that end, I’d like to take a moment to provide a FACT: President Obama has issued fewer Executive Orders than he is credited with … far fewer. The following information is from The American Presidency Project, a project at U.C. Santa Barbara, which offers a wealth of information about our presidents.

All 43 presidents (Grover Cleveland held two, non-consecutive terms, so I am counting him once) are represented in the link, above. A total of 22 presidents issued fewer Executive Orders than President Obama. With the exception of George Bush (Sr.) who issued 166 during a single term, every president who issued fewer Executive Orders held office prior to 1892.

In President Obama’s two terms, through January 20, 2014, he has issued a total of 168 Executive Orders, rather than the over 900 claimed by the media.

Presidents issuing greater than 1,000 Executive Orders include: Theodore Roosevelt (1,081), Woodrow Wilson (1,803), Calvin Coolidge (1,203) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (3,522).

Executive Orders issued by modern presidents, in reverse order, are as follows:

Barack Obama 168 (through 01/20/14)

G.W. Bush 291

Bill Clinton  364

George Bush 166 (in one term)

Ronald Reagan 381

Jimmy Carter 320 (in one term)

Gerald Ford 169 (in less than one term)

Richard Nixon 346

Lyndon Johnson 325 (in less than one term)

John F. Kennedy 214 (in less than one term)

So, now that we all have the facts, we can flaunt them anytime someone tries to perpetuate a lie they want to believe in!

Another issue I'm hearing from my Republican friends is that President Obama's executive orders are illegal. That is patently untrue. An executive order has the full force of law when it takes authority from a power granted directly to the Executive by the Constitution, or is made pursuant to certain Acts of Congress. Like statutes or regulations (by regulatory agencies of the government), executive orders are subject to judicial review and may be struck down if deemed by the courts to be unsupported by statute or Constitution.

Executive orders are allowed, people. The fact that several of our President's executive orders have been struck down through judicial review proves that our system of checks and balances is working as intended.

Knowledge is Power!