Obama’s executive orders

Executive orders are a real, although limited, alternative for President Obama, given the rabid obstructionism that the legislative opposition has demonstrated toward his initiatives. They have become a necessary option in the current political climate.

The president is facing a Republican strategy that has successfully blocked his projects. In the Senate, what used to be an extraordinary parliamentary maneuver, cloture—requiring 60 votes instead of a simple majority to advance a bill—has become commonplace. Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, having Obama support a measure means that the GOP majority will immediately oppose it. Because of this behavior, the current legislative session is one of the least productive in recent memory.

As soon as Obama warned in his address to Congress that he is willing to use executive orders to move his agenda forward, he was accused of being a dictator who does no respect the Constitution because he wants to bypass Congress.

This reaction is not unusual. According to the mythology of the far right, Obama has issued more than 923 executive orders in his attempt to take over the government. In reality, he has issued 168, the smallest number in the past 100 years. Ronald Reagan was the one who issued the most executive orders (381) in the past three decades.

Let’s not forget, when it comes to not respecting the will of Congress, that George W. Bush was the one who turned presidential signing statements into an art. In them, he would express disagreement with a part of the law and his intention to not implement the questionable sections.

Therefore, criticizing Obama for wanting to resort more often to executive orders is part of the same obstructionist strategy, which includes exaggerating and lying in order to deceive and confuse.

President Obama may be the only president who did not gain any political capital after winning his re-election, because of relentless legislative obstructionism. Today, executive orders seem like the president’s best alternative to move forward the agenda that has come to a standstill in Congress.