Obama tells Trump, 'Don't issue too many executive orders.' IS HE KIDDING?

Rule by executive order is legal, but unpopular. We expect debate and a say.

President Obama is preparing to leave office, and as he goes he has some advice for President-elect Trump, don't sign too many executive orders.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - Obama may have made the comment slightly tongue-in-cheek, but it's also serious. Obama has been pummeled over his use of executive orders to govern, and Trump has vowed to reverse his directives.

Obama has been forced to use executive orders as he has spent his entire second term deadlocked against Republicans.

While the use of executive orders is legal, it is also seen as a form of rule by fiat, which is somewhat un-American. As a society, we prefer to be governed by consent and though representatives who vote on the rules we live by.

However, the Constitution also allows for a law to be made by others besides Congress, at least in a practical sense.

While only Congress can make a law, the enforcement of that law is up to an agency. For example, the IRS decides how stringently to keep a law. An unpopular or especially cumbersome law might be ignored and go unenforced. Police do this all the time because they cannot always uphold every law on the books.

This latitude effectively allows enforcement agencies to make law.

Judges can also "legislate from the bench" by ordering specific laws be upheld to a certain degree.

Finally, a president can order the enforcement, or stop the enforcement of law. This gives the president sweeping powers. This is how Obama has famously governed for the past four years, issuing executive orders, interpretations, and directives that tell our agencies how to enforce the rules passed by Congress.

Still, such rule is unpopular with the people.

Obama has admitted that Trump could overturn some, or even all his executive orders. He admitted that the overturning of his orders is part of the democratic process. He told NPR during an interview, "If he wants to reverse some of those rules, that's part of the democratic process. That's, you know, why I tell people to vote - because it turns out elections mean something."