How can anyone think by passing Congress is a good thing? I might as well answer myself. Only people that want free stuff and as Rush says "Low information voters". The current occupier makes all the previous progressive leaders pale in comparison. Watch the Socialists come out of the woodwork or from under the rocks.

he is power hungry he lies takes credit for everything and blames bush for the ecomomy his engery policy is only driving up the cost of energy tax more spend more will not work its time there is term limits on congress and a buget must balance no more not having a budget

To heck with congress, to heck with democracy, to heck with the constitution....I'll just whip out my magic pen and do things MY way....I'm un-stopable now! Do you think we'll ever get the good-old USA back again? How about the "American Dream"? Work-hard, live-well? I'm sure most of Obama's supporters don't know much about those sort of things.

If congress would do it's job, no President would have to create executive orders. Now we have a do nothing Republican led House of Representatives and a poorly led divided Senate. Congress is not doing the job that they were sent to Washington by the people to do. No wonder they are rated lower than cockroaches and head lice. The Republican party is failing ever so completely. If they continue with their consistent abject stupidity they will continue being a party of failed policy and irrelevant ideas. What ever happened to the idea that we are all in this together? When will our leaders once again work for the common good instead of the monied special interests? Perhaps we should consider throwing all these idiots out of office and begin again anew.

The hater Republicans that still are sore that their Romney didn't win will always yell foul. But if we are to just look at one president before Obama we see that history willl always show a president that started two wars and steamrolled our country into the biggest deficit in American history. While Obama isn't exactly doing much to change those numbers, I will always view him as the better alternative to the previous president.

Obama is largely - although not solely - responsible for the latest tax debacle that, as I recall, raised taxes $43 for every $1 in spending cuts - so much for the man who promised to cut the federal deficit in 1/2 by the end of his first term.

Michael -
Conservatives think people should obey they law & not be rewarded when they do break the law. Conservatives think people who break the law are criminals - would you prefer "criminal" over "illegal" immigrants. Or perhaps you think there should be no laws - immigration or otherwise. Conservatives think homosexuals are the ones with a 'perverted twisted moral structure'. Conservatives believe we should not arm people who have promised to commit genocide. Conservatives believe individuals & countries should be allowed & encouraged to protect themselves.
If you consider this hatred you must be a liberal - if you agree with these values you are a conservative & are hated for what you believe by those who do not like what you believe & call you a "hater".

Whether you consider yourself a conservative, a liberal, or somewhere between or outside those bounds, we must look at the history of executive orders. As the article points out, they have been used since the time of Washington, yet still do not have clear constitutional authority. What was not mentioned, though, is that executive orders were not used to legislate for much of the history of the United States. Up until the 1900's, executive orders were hardly even kept record of because of their mundane nature and usually was just directions to certain agencies. What we have seen in the latter part of the 20th century and grown hugely under both Bush and Obama administrations is a stretch and abuse of such power. The executive branch has no power to legislate, but to aid in the carrying out of the decisions of congress. The power to make law is supposed to be strictly kept in Congress who are supposed to be the representatives of the people. To just blame Obama, or justify it by citing Bush, is beating around the bigger issue of the orders constitutionality and where the line is for the power these orders have. We must begin to have an intelligent argument about this issue and many others instead of pandering to polarizing partisan politics and meaningless political labels.

Dan. I don't call them criminals, or illegals. I call them refugees seeking asylum in the land of the free & frustrated by the hoops that obstructionists try to make them hump through so there is an excuse to harass them legally. "perverted & twisted moral structure" is a subjective value judgement & is just a way of saying that if a person doesn't have your moral hang ups & repressive view of life, you will endeavor to limit their freedom to peruse their lives due to your mental problems of trying to make everyone just like you.
I don't want to arm people that might commit genocide, but I also don't want to let anyone who can buy a gun, own a gun, as that has proven to not work well in society. The hatred part comes in when mickey mouse bull crap is rationalized to justify your exclusionist & restrictive agenda on how America must remain in the 1950s, with all the social stratification that you think is natural reality. It's that stratification, inherent in your hearts that we call hate.

When my parents came over from Italy they had to suffer the embarraasment of Ellis Island and go through a lot of red tape before being allowed in America. They had to submit to all kinds of tests and HAD to learn the English language. Nowadays you just cross the border illegally, have some kids and claim them as citizens, get a job with a landscaping company, get paid off the books so you dont have to pay taxes, and send your money back to other family members who still live in the country you came from, get free medical at all our Hospitals, and take jobs away from real American citizens

Let's tear down the Statue of Liberty & put up an electrified fence along all the land borders & along the coasts. We can bring all the soldiers home from Afghanistan & put them armed with machine guns along all the borders too. We can put up signs saying "no stinking foreigners allowed" & we can give the armed guards a $100 bonus per Mexican they shoot dead. That will keep America free. Ah Amerika. It makes a body proud. Kill a Border crosser for Christ.

Yes he is going too far!

The question is "Executive Orders: Is Obama Going Too Far?". Stay FOCUSED. I believe he is- YES. Look at the executive orders he has written. He and his administration are chipping away at the constitution. It's a SIMPLE QUESTION. Don't go off in a million different directions. Answer the Question!

Tom, I agree with you!! It's so true how people can just cross the border illegally and have more rights and benefits than an American. Take away jobs from Americans and get paid under the table...They don't even want to learn English. They want you to learn their language. It's not that we don't want them here, but come the right way, like your parents and so many others. Learn our language, pay taxes, pay for insurance and follow the laws of the land. That's all we're saying. BE FAIR ABOUT IT!

Every president uses executive orders. If he is your guy: he is deftly enacting sound policy in situations where congress can’t or won’t act. If he is not your guy: it is a ruthless power grab to take away your money and individual freedoms. Supporting evidence is any source that supports my guy and/or discredits your guy, regardless of the actual facts. Let the rants continue, I’m going to work.

The President is doing what he has to do to get things done. If he relies on congress he will hit gridlock. I would rather him take the initiative and I would do the same. Nancy MacDonald

The President is passing executive orders because he has to focus on getting the job of fixing America done & done right. The neanderthals in the house of representitives are making it necessery to bypass them to accomplish anything needed to not just stagnate & go deeper into the hole the republicans created & keep trying to pull us back down in to keep us there since they lost control.

He does know how to fix the economy. Did you not listen to his State Of The Union Address. If he was left unhampered, America would reach new heights in everything that matters. His wanting to raise the minimum wage alone would put untold more $ into the cash flow. The only cut back producers would have to make is to scale back the CEOs & their cronies salaries. Guys like Gordon Romney Grecco would make smaller exorbitant salaries.

That alone, plus his proposal to rebuild the infrastructure would put $ into the pockets of the workers, the companies supplying the materials, the companies transporting the materials, etc. Most of his agenda would have a snowball effect to put America economically on track while rebuilding out country that has fallen into ruin since financing two needless wars.

i am going off subject.. but the housing crisis that brought this upon us was totally democrat driven... you should read about it. mccain was trying to straighten it out but the democratic controlled house and congress cut him off at every turn. that's a fact. and if you look at the wars we fought, realistically, yes they cost way too much... and we should have been able to pull out after 4 years. but the regimes and taliban that declared war on us during the carter administration and the terror leaders are wiped out. it's turmoil now but it's better than it was. their power to attack us at home is not what it was..

When you have one party that is just totally obstructionist, regardless of the merit of the issue based on ideology and party, then somehow things need to get done. I would hope the Republicans would wake up. Maybe Obama using executive orders will nudge them into some level of cooperation. Just how well did their plan work out to make him a one term President? Hmmmm? Most rational people are fed up with the radical direction the GOP has taken by allowing the tea party trolls to gain too much control.

Bush is the one that pushed the mortgage crisis over the edge! Don't believe it?
Read here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/21admin.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
and watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkAtUq0OJ68

Many executive orders in the past were proclaiming special days and honors on people, many very minor orders. But Obama has used this limited power in a way that no other President has, he is userping the Constitution.

http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020617-2.html

Official White House Press Release!

A simple question. My simple answer, NO! One comment not debating a thing: Until we can come together and show support for OUR President, no one is benefiting. Very sad examples for our children,

gail,
You have no idea what you are talking about. You have no facts to back up your theory. So I guess, you are a true Republican!

Fascism at its finest! Enjoy America, you put him in there.

David Conkle -
Obama is many things - possible even a good man - but he sure is an awful president who does not have a clue about America & has done more damage to this country - economically & militarily - thru his extralegal activities than any president I can recall or think of. It does not matter if he is Fascist or Socialist he is just plain bad for america

Dan, perhaps it is you and the other malcontented Republican/Teabaggers who are bad for America. If you don't like it, lump it or leave it. The majority of Americans are so tired of people such as yourself playing the blame game at every opportunity and espousing their lies and vile hatreds. To be sure we have many unresolved issues and problems in our country and I don't agree with the expansion of executive powers either, however, you're either part of the solution or part of the problem. Which are you, Dan?

I believe this situation isn't all about how many executive orders President Obama has issued. but about the actual content of the orders and why he does them. If he were in Washington working more, and not "campaigning" around the coutry for his causes, and at least appearing to work together with Congress, there might be less anxiety over these executive orders. Finally, this nation's founding fathers put a particular system of checks and balances in place for a purpose, and I do feel our current president tries to circumvent them way too often.

The current House of Representatives is the most dysfunctional legislative body this nation has ever seen.

Ronald Reagan, who thrived on the carefully constructed compromises he worked out with House Speaker Tip O'Neil, would have been frustrated by the absurd refusals by the current House to engage in good government compromises so that our nation could progress, rather than be the laughing stock of the industrialized nations.

Lyndon Johnson would never have been able to pass both Medicare, the lifeline for our seniors, and the Civil Rights Act, which finally drove a stake in the heart of the social vampires which wanted to keep some of our people as second class citizens.

Both of those powerful and astute Presidents would have used Executive Orders much more than they did, if they also had to endure the burden of this GOP-led House which prefers to shut down government, and risk the US debt rating, and damn the economy to more and more uncertainty making businesses too nervous to act boldly with growth.

I am amazed at how popular it is to make a bold political statement and then either not provide any factual support for it or to provide a completely one sided view to support it. Virtually every elected politician does this (including the President) and most major news media do this because they are paid to be biased and to influence the general public.

It important to remember almost every issue has two sides to consider before one should take a bold position on any issue. We, the citizens, should strive for a more balanced position on these issues and also consider the opposing arguments before taking strong positions.

Is Obama justified in his use of executive orders? Every President has used executive orders, and its not the number of orders, rather the content or objective of the executive order(s) that is important. Executive orders challenging or iqnoring existing law(s) and/or the Constitution are wrong and allow individuals in government to bypass the citizens due process. We have existing processes for updating those laws and the Constitution.

Before you defend or criticize the President, look at the content/objectives of his 139 executive orders before you take a position. I suspect most of the authors expressing their thoughts in this thread, have very little knowledge of the executive orders contents and objectives.

The past four years we have seen "the worst congress in history" with the "lowest approval rating ever", led by the PARTY OF NO reject almost everything the president has proposed all in the name of making him "a one term president". Well, that approach failed. Now they saying NO, just to be obstructionist and because they can.
When you a congress that wastes the people's time and money by voting to repeal ObamaCare 33 times, it is pretty sure indicator that they have no intention of working for the interest of their constituents and aren't serious about accomplishing anything for the next 4 years.
They then accuse the president of "not leading" and when he does propose legislations, he "isn't serious". If the republicans and their teabugger masters would even attempt to cooperate with the president instead of blocking or not even considering legislation, that might be a good start.
I agree that a president of either party shouldn't have to issue executive orders to get anything done. The carrot doesn't seem to work for this bunch of congress asses to get them moving. Maybe the stick approach of a series of executive orders and taking his case to the people might get things moving, but I doubt it. All these congressional republicans will do is NOTHING. Oh wait.... that's wrong. They will do NOTHING and then WHINE about the president's actions.

Grandpa, you've got it exactly right but I don't see the radical left as anywhere near the vile language and refusal to cooperate as on the right. The GOP has let the Tea Baggers set the agenda. BAD mistake GOP! The people are fed up. Get on board or we will be sure you get lost in 2014.

Grandpa, you said there were some more extreme than O'Rielly & Beck. You got that right. Check out Alex Jones>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TgOzRjG4Cvw
Years ago, he blamed Bush/Channey for faking 9/11. Now he is anti Obama.
Check out the true insanity. O'Rielly & Beck are like alter boys compared to this a-hole.

Alex Jones is DANGEROUS. He poisons the weak minded who can't think for themselves. Someday, one of these insanely radical individuals is going to go too far and goad some psychopath in their audience to kill someone. THEN maybe we can have a sane conversation about just how far free speech should go. IMHO, spouting the hatred and bile people like Jones, et al put out is no different than yelling FIRE in a crowded theater. ... and .... THAT concept IS illegal.