Exactly. And I think that is precisely what he will continue to do. From my reading, he has no authority to issue EOs, beyond established laws. EOs are to be used in what the Legislative Branch has already put in place.
As to the car companies, he had NO AUTHORITY to remove the heads and to screw up the companies. Did he even do that by a written EO or did he speak and - wham! bam! - it was done.
Well, I think one of the E.O.s from the past was the one where the Prez ordered that no head of state be assassinated by a U.S. agency, and I think that is within his realm. The order to stop Louisiana Gulf offshore drilling, however, not so much...;-))
No, I don’t think he needed to do an EO on GM and Chrysler — he had Paulson and Geithner hold a gun to their heads by withholding the bailout until they got the boards to do what they wanted...which is worse (coercion/extortion) if you think about it...