We Can't Wait Obama

Blue text with blue stripes above and below on a white background

This button is most likely from Barack Obama’s 2012 U.S. Presidential re-election campaign. In 2011, Obama launched a policy initiative called We Can’t Wait—referenced by the slogan on this button—which was a series of executive orders put forth to “support middle class Americans” during a period of long-standing Congressional gridlock. Some Republicans disapproved of the We Can’t Wait initiative because they viewed it as a threat to the balance of power and Congress’s oversight. 

Democrat Obama, the 44th President of the United States, successfully won re-election in 2012 over his Republican contender Mitt Romney, winning 51.06% of the popular vote to Romney’s 47.21%. Obama’s win marked the first time since 1944 that a president had won two successive contests with both a win in the electoral college and over 51% of the popular vote.