8/1/2014
Rep. and Chair of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz speaks at a rally before first lady Michelle Obama came onstage in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Aug. 22, 2012. (REUTERS/Joe Skipper)
President Obama does his job less often than any commander-in-chief since Grover Cleveland, who held the office in the 19th century.
That’s according to Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was interviewed on MSNBC Wednesday ahead of a Republican-backed measure to sue Obama for overstepping his executive authority, especially in his unilateral actions to implement Obamacare.
But in the interview, Wasserman Schultz, a US congresswoman from Florida, inadvertently agreed with a complaint levied most often by Republicans that Obama has not put much effort into his job.
“I’m going to go to the House floor and actually debate why we shouldn’t be voting for the first time in American history to sue the president of the United States for doing his job, and doing his job actually less often and at a rate that is lower than any other president since Grover Cleveland,” said Wasserman Schultz, while fingering Republicans who she claims “refuse to do anything.”
It is unclear why Wasserman Schultz compared Obama to Cleveland, who was president for two non-consecutive terms from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897.
She could be referring to a recent analysis conducted by the Washington Post and the Brookings Institute which found that Obama has resorted to using executive action less often than any president since Cleveland.
But Obama has been criticized heavily for his leisurely pursuits.
According to an analysis by the New York Post, Obama has played golf 185 times since taking office in 2009. He has hit the links 81 times during his second term — more than doubling the rate of his first term.
Obama also spends a lot of time raising money for fellow Democrats. According to the Post, he has attended 75 fundraisers since the 2012 re-election.
Despite the relative rarity in issuing executive orders, Obama has wielded his pen unilaterally on hot-button issues, to the chagrin of Republicans. One example was a 2012 executive order implementing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy which has provided amnesty to nearly 600,000 illegal immigrants. Recent reports have suggested that Obama may issue new executive orders amid the immigration crisis currently unfolding at the southern U.S. border involving tens of thousands of unaccompanied child immigrants.
On Wednesday, the House voted along party lines, 225-201, to sue Obama. According to the Wall Street Journal, the suit will focus on Obama’s issuance of a one-year delay for the employer health insurance mandate.
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