Notes from Behind the Keyboard – Editorial

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Danny Hanning of The Other Shoe – May 6th, 2014

 

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                       Welcome back MY Dear Readers to The Other Shoe. If you looked, carefully, at the title of toady’s offering then you know that today is something special. In the, more than, four years that I have published this blog… four years and 493 (with this 494) articles I have rarely presented an ‘Editorial’. Events have transpired that have forced my hand, in that regard. Today I come to you, My Dear Readers, with a bone to pick.

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The last couple of news cycles have been bloated with hype that Speaker Boehner is going to “Sue President Obama”. Sue our sitting President over, allegedly, his “misuse of power via ‘Executive Orders’”. OK… hang on… give me a minute to stop laughing. There, that’s better. OK…Seriously? Speaker of the House of Representatives is so ‘free’ of other obligations… The House of Representatives have so much ‘free time’… They have ‘finished their homework’? Oh… MERCY! I do take exception to that assertion. Let us review:

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Ohio – Republican (R) John Boehner was (first) sworn in as ‘Speaker’ of The House of Representatives on January 5^th 2011 for the 112^th Congress. Below is a video of Rep. John Boehner after being sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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(To this day… I am still vexed by why he picked the… ‘large’ [‘oversized’] gavel for his Speakership. Note: Each Speaker is allowed to ‘pick’ his own gavel to be used as ‘Speaker’ for the House of Representatives.)

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So, the last Session of Congress that was lead by a Democrat Speaker was…. (can anyone tell me?)… the 111^th Congress was the last to have a Democrat as a Speaker. Now, let us have a little review – The 111^th Congress passed 861 Bills (see next graphic below)that garnered 383 New Laws [1]that were signed into law. The last act of Democrats, while in control of the House of Representatives, was to work very hard and passed 383 bills that were signed into law. (That was the ‘Second’ Session of the 111^th Congress seated in 2010).

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Chart of Bills Passed by Congress Past 20 years

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Now, here is where it gets just totally squirrelly! Since (R) Rep. John Boehner was sworn in as Speaker the (Republican Controlled) Congress has voted (a Grand total of) FIFTY-FOUR times to ‘Repeal Obamacare’. Coincidently, each and every time their votes were ceremonial ONLY because they knew that they lack the votes in the Senate. Yet… and here is where the squirrelly part comes to play:

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• Congressional Republicans have held FIFTY-FOUR votes repealing ‘Obamacare’.
• The 112^th Congress was documented as “The Least Productive Congress”[2] Passing few bills, making fewer laws than any since the 107^th in 2001.
• The 113^th Congress (also) was documented as ‘The Least Productive in Modern History”[3]

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80th Congress to 112th Congress ‘Bills Passed’

(80^th Congress to 112^th Congress ‘Bills Passed’)

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Now we are in the first session of the 114^th Congress, and the pace of legislation has not changed. Yet, Speaker Boehner is calling on the ‘Bi-Partisan Legal Advisory Group’ to execute his (frivolous) action[4]. The ‘Bi-Partisan Legal Advisory Group’ is made up of: The Speaker of the House, The House Majority Leader, The House Minority Leader, and BOTH ‘Party Whips’. Let me see… is there anything else that this group of esteemed LEADERS of the House or Representatives could work on… instead? Say… like; ‘Immigration Reform’… ‘Improving Conditions at Veteran’s Administration Hospitals’… ‘Campaign Finance Reform’… oh, I could go on and one and list, maybe, fifteen items of National Importance that these Leadership Members could better spend their time on, than trying to figure out a way to sue President Obama over ‘Abuse of Executive Orders’. But, he is the Speaker… so let’s look at the number(s)!

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Below is a graphic showing the NUMBER of ‘Executicve Actions’ by President from Washington to President Obama. Let’s take a look-see!

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(Source for chart below: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/disposition.html)

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Executive Orders:Washington – Obama

President	Term	Total Orders1	Average / Year	EO Number Range
George Washington	Total	8		unnumbered
John Adams	Total	1		unnumbered
Thomas Jefferson	Total	4		unnumbered
James Madison	Total	1		unnumbered
James Monroe	Total	1		unnumbered
John Quincy Adams	Total	3		unnumbered
Andrew Jackson	Total	12		unnumbered
Martin van Buren	Total	10		unnumbered
William Henry Harrison	Total	0		unnumbered
John Tyler	Total	17		unnumbered
James K. Polk	Total	18		unnumbered
Zachary Taylor	Total	5		unnumbered
Millard Fillmore	Total	12		unnumbered
Franklin Pierce	Total	35		unnumbered
James Buchanan	Total	16		unnumbered
Abraham Lincoln	Total	48		unnumbered
Andrew Johnson	Total	79		unnumbered
Ulysses S. Grant	Total	217		unnumbered
Rutherford B. Hayes	Total	92		unnumbered
James Garfield	Total	6		unnumbered
Chester Arthur	Total	96		unnumbered
Grover Cleveland – I	Total	113		unnumbered
Benjamin Harrison	Total	143		unnumbered
Grover Cleveland – II	Total	140		unnumbered
William McKinley	Total	185		unnumbered
Theodore Roosevelt	Total	1,081
William Howard Taft	Total	724
Woodrow Wilson	Total	1,803
Warren G. Harding	Total	522
Calvin Coolidge	Total	1,203
Herbert Hoover	Total	968		5075 – 6070
Franklin D. Roosevelt	Total	3,522		6071 – 9537
Harry S. Truman	Total	907		9538 – 10431
	I	504		9538 – 10029
	II	403		10030 – 10431
Dwight D. Eisenhower	Total	484		10432 – 10913
	I	266		10432 – 10695-A
	II	218		10696 – 10913
John F. Kennedy	Total	214		10914 – 11127
Lyndon B. Johnson	Total	325		11128 – 11451
Richard Nixon	Total	346		11452 – 11797
	I	247		11452 – 11698
	II	99		11699 – 11797
Gerald R. Ford	Total	169		11798 – 11966
Jimmy Carter	Total	320	80.00	11967 – 12286
Ronald Reagan	Total	381	47.63	12287 – 12667
	I	213	53.25	12287 – 12499
	II	168	42.00	12500 – 12667
George Bush	Total	166	41.50	12668 – 12833
William J. Clinton	Total	364	45.50	12834 – 13197
	I	200	50.00	12834 – 13033
	II	164	41.00	13034 – 13197
George W. Bush	Total	291	36.38	13198 – 13488
	I	173	43.25	13198 – 13370
	II	118	29.50	13371 – 13488
Barack Obama	Total	182	33.58	13489 – 13670…
	I	147	36.75	13489 – 13635
	II	35	24.65	13636 – 13670…

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Last Update: Data Through June 20, 2014. (through 5.42 years of the Obama Administration)

Citation: Gerhard Peters. “Executive Orders.” The American Presidency Project. Ed. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. Santa Barbara, CA. 1999-2014. Available from the World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/orders.php.

Notes:
¹ 1789 to 1945 (Roosevelt) data includes “numbered” and “unnumbered” executive orders. 1945 (Truman) data includes only numbered executive orders including those with letter designations (ex. Executive Order 9577-A).

Data Sources:
• 1789 – 1945 (Roosevelt) data obtained from Lyn Ragsdale, “Vital Statisitcs on the Presidency: Washington to Clinton.” rev. ed. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 1998).
• 1945 (Truman) – present data compiled by Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project, from documents contained in the Federal Register.

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So, let me see… President Obama has used a total of 182 ‘Executive Orders’ (so far) in his two terms as President. What have the other Presidents passed?

• George W. Bush = 291
• William J. Clinton = 364
• George H.W. Bush = 166 (ONE term)
• Ronald Reagan = 381
• Jimmy Carter = 320
• Gerald R. Ford = 169 (LESS than One Term)
• Richard Nixon = 346
• Lyndon B Johnson = 325 (One Term)
• John F Kennedy = 214 (One Term)
• Dwight D Eisenhower = 484
• Barrack Obama = 182 (In nearly TWO Terms)

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Yeah, wow… that is a total “abuse of power”! While facing two sessions of ‘The Least Productive Congress” President Obama has used fewer ‘Executive Actions’ than any other sitting President in my lifetime (five year at least, Two Term Presidents). It would seem that Speaker Boehner is… jumping the gun. ?!? Shouldn’t there appear to be some abuse of a power before one would go and sue? Seems logical to me! Then why is Speaker Boehner jumping the proverbial gun? Why?

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APPEARENCES. Aye, there’s the rub! Living, as we do, in a visual and visceral society, Speaker Boehner need not wait for President Obama to do anything wrong, first. A good 20% to 22% of Americans already ‘see’ President Obama as ‘lawless’, so one need not actually wait for this President to do something wrong before hanging him out to dry. But… there is this nagging thought, in the back of my head.

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Immigration Reform… Campaign Finance Reform…. V.A. Hospitals… Veterans Benefits… REAL WORK that needs to be done, left standing at the crib, while Speaker Boehner plays games with the Leaders of the House of Representatives.

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This is worse than ‘Much Ado About Nothing’… This is an ‘abuse of power’ by… The Speaker!

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Nuff said?

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Adieu!

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Thank YOU!
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http://www.ebay.com/usr/enzomatrixlt

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Danny Hanning of The Other Shoe – May 6th, 2014

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[1]http://www.congress-summary.com/A-111th-Congress/Laws_Passed_111th_Congress_Seq.html

[2]http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/9/capitol-hill-least-productive-congress-ever-112th-/?page=all

[3]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/08/113th-congress-bills_n_3563008.html

[4]http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/06/25/should-speaker-john-boehner-sue-president-obama-over-executive-orders