Republicans Call Him a Dictator, But Obama Has Issued Fewest Executive Orders in 100 Years

Last updated on February 7th, 2013 at 03:22 pm

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After his gun control announcement, Republicans immediately called President Obama a dictator and an imperial president, but the truth is that the president has issued the fewest executive orders of any president over the last 100 years.

Republicans immediately and predictably went off the rails as soon as the president mentioned executive action and guns. Rep. Paul Broun said, “There is a tremendous potential for a horrendous public backlash against the president if he continues the policies that he has been doing of trying to go around Congress, create law and be a dictator like he’s been doing.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) accused the president of abusing his power, “Making matters worse is that President Obama is again abusing his power by imposing his policies via executive fiat instead of allowing them to be debated in Congress. President Obama’s frustration with our republic and the way it works doesn’t give him license to ignore the Constitution.”

Rep. Darrell Issa said, “The president’s imperial behavior and his abuse of power didn’t begin with the Second Amendment. He did it with immigration. He’s certainly done it with the Obamacare. So, once again, it’s a president exceeding his intended authority.”

A funny thing happened on the way to Obama is dictator who is taking away all of guns Republican Memeville. New York Magazine crunched the numbers of presidential executive orders and concluded that this president has issued the fewest executive orders of any president over the last 100 years. Every Republican president signed more executive orders than Barack Obama has. On an order per day basis, Obama has issued fewer EOs than every single Republican president over the past century.

This fact will not stop Republicans from claiming that President Obama is stealing their rights, but it does demonstrate how far apart perception and reality are for the right. With their comments today, Republicans demonstrated that they are more interested in name calling and scoring political points with their base than seriously discussing the root causes of gun violence.

The right is still feeding their myth of the imaginary imperial dictator Obama, and everything this president does will be viewed through their collective Obama delusion.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association