For years Republicans have been tripping over themselves trying to convince the American public that President Barack Obama has abused the office of the presidency and “ignored the constitution”. His use of the executive order, they say, has abused the separation of powers and sidestepped congress. So, just to clear up the record and offer some perspective here is a clear summary of where Obama stacks up compared to his predecessors. This data is pulled directly from the American Presidency Project.
President Obama is averaging 33 Executives Orders per year. This is fewer than any of the previous 11 Presidents. If you have been listening to Fox news and rest of the right wing echo chamber, however, you’d be under the impression that Obama has completely reset the standard for a President and has acted like some sort of authoritarian dictator. Hopefully this chart helps shows that this argument is a complete fabrication.