Apples and Oranges, are These Executive Orders

Oh, you who would argue executive orders have been around all along and Obama has issued fewer than many other presidents. You might yet prove right. But, I do know that everything in our listing of executive orders is not in same class. Apples and oranges, it is.

George Washington's first executive order, if we can call it that, was to direct federal officers of the outgoing Articles of Confederation government to prepare a state of affairs report for him. That's hardly what we'd consider to be an executive order today. Imagine how many things would count as executive orders if President Obama listed every time he directed someone to give him a report.

On the flip side of the argument, the side saying we have long governed by executive order, is President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves. Surely, that is the most significant executive order in history.

Some would argue President Clinton's creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah is an example of executive decree. It is. It was done by executive order. But, it is not an example of an executive decree that is not attached to a law to giving authority for the action. The Antiquities Act of 1906 gives presidents the authority to create national monuments.

I'm thinking some of President Obama's actions are going to stretching it when it comes time to ask what laws they are attached to.