Cruz Calls Obama ‘Imperial’; Facts Disagree

In the wake of President Obama’s pledge to use executive action last night in his State of the Union, many on the right have started foaming at the mouth.  Few are bigger foamers than Senator Ted Cruz.

Of all the troubling aspects of the Obama presidency, none is more dangerous than the president’s persistent pattern of lawlessness, his willingness to disregard the written law and instead enforce his own policies via executive fiat.

But facts are a tricky thing.  Steve Benen presents the graph above that shows that President Obama has used fewer executive orders than any President in 125 years.

All told, Obama has averaged fewer executive orders, per year, than any president in the last 125 years. His totals may yet grow – it’s tough to predict how many orders he’ll issue in his final three years – but at least for now, Republican criticisms about Obama’s excesses aren’t just wrong, they’re demonstrably ridiculous.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.