January 16, 2012 8:42AM 

# Yes They Did 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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The other day I saw a bumper sticker with an Obama logo and the words YES WE DID. This was hardly a surprise, as Obama got 67 percent of the vote in my neighborhood and 72 percent in my county, home to lobbyists and bureaucrats. And the embattled Republicans don’t flaunt their dissidence on their bumpers. But I began to wonder just what the driver was proud of.

Yes we did [increase the national debt](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20095704-503544.html) by $4 trillion? Yes we did create a national health insurance program passed in such haste that it’s [full](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504577006322431330662.html) of [gross errors](http://reason.com/blog/2011/09/14/democrats-knew-obamacares-clas) and [requires restrictions](https://www.cato.org/a-soviet-style-power-grab-to-squelch-bad-press-for-obamacare/) on telling the media about it? Yes we did [continue the wars](https://www.cato.org/where-is-barack-obama-now-that-we-need-him/) a lot longer than we promised? Yes we did launch a third war in the Middle East without congressional authorization? Yes we did exercise [presidential power](http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/obama-flexing-same-powers-he-once-criticized/307821) [more aggressively](http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2012/01/will-congress-stop-king-barack-first/2077591) than George W. Bush? Yes we did [laugh at the very idea](http://reason.com/blog/2011/07/05/will-marijuana-give-obama-the) of not arresting people for smoking pot? Yes we did ratchet up [regulatory costs](http://www.economist.com/node/17961890) in a weak economy? Yes we did create the [slowest recovery](http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2012/01/december-employment-report-200000-jobs.html) in postwar history?

Soon even my Republican neighbors may be sporting bumper stickers reading YES YOU DID.

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