The use of executive orders was used much more rampantly by numerous Presidents long before Obama was even old enough to be eligible to run for President. 15 presidents issued more executive orders than Obama did, nine of which were Republicans/Conservative in W. Bush, Nixon, Reagan, Eisenhower, Harding, Taft, Hoover, Theodore Roosevelt, and Coolidge.
It's not the amount of executive orders. It's what becomes the law of the land through the EO.
Declaring a national holiday and pardoning a turkey are different than enacting the take over of 1/6 of our economy.