The paper proved the president has used these alternative means – memoranda and policy directives – for the same items and actions previous presidents utilized executive orders.
Obama claims to have issued fewer executive orders (195 through Tuesday) than any other two-term president over the past century. New findings from USA Today indicate Obama’s assertion to be nothing short of a well-maneuvered talking point that was crafted to misrepresent the level of overreach his administration has had on Americans.
In reality, this White House has issued 198 memos since January 2009, including the immigration-related ones last month. That number by itself is greater than any other president’s record since 1945. When combined with his executive orders, the grand total places him ahead of any other president over the past 70 years.
According to the report, Obama has signed 33 percent more presidential memoranda in less than six years than his predecessor George W. Bush did in eight. Furthermore, Obama has issued 45 percent more than the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton.
The White House staff likely used memoranda because unlike executive orders, memos are not numbered or indexed, making them hard to track, until the archiving process changed recently. Additionally, an “executive order immediately evokes potentially damaging questions of ‘imperial overreach,’” according to the Presidential Studies Quarterly. By issuing a more pleasant-sounding type of action, the public is left more at ease.
Even the president’s advisers in The Office of Legal Counsel told USA Today there is no difference between a memorandum and executive order.
Therefore, the Obama administration’s claims to have issued the fewest number of executive orders are not only inaccurate but an intentional effort to mislead the public. He has not exercised restraint, but undermined the system to restructure how executive business is carried out.
When it comes to true immigration policy, Obama’s recent amnesty via memoranda ought to be taken just as seriously as an executive order. He is the only president to use a memorandum more often than an executive order. America must react to his overreaching of the overruling process, especially in light of the effect it is having on U.S. immigration policy.