White House releases president’s birth certificate

White House releases president’s birth certificate

Obama slams obsession; Trump claims victory
By Kara Rowland and Stephen Dinan

-

The Washington Times
Updated: 10:35 a.m. on Wednesday, April 27, 2011

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
This handout image provided by the White House shows a copy of the long form of President Obama’s birth certificate from Hawaii. (Associated Press)

Saying the country has far more serious things to worry about than the “silliness” of the controversy over his birthplace, President Obama on Wednesday released a longer-form version of his official birth document in hopes it finally would put to rest persistent speculation he was not born in Hawaii.

In a brief statement to the press, a visibly frustrated Mr. Obama said he was disappointed that so many recent media stories have focused on allegations he was not born in the United States as opposed to issues such as the ongoing budget debate. He said normally he wouldn’t comment on the matter but chose to do so because of the “enormous challenges out there” that will require both parties to come together.

“We’re not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers,” the president told reporters. “We live in a serious time right now, and we have the potential to deal with the issues that we confront [in a way] that will make our kids and our grandkids and our great-grandkids proud.”

The White House earlier on Wednesday posted online a longer-form certified version of Mr. Obama’s birth certificate. In 2008, then-candidate Mr. Obama posted a computer-generated “certificate of live birth” that traditionally serves as proof for those born in Hawaii — but that document failed to satisfy skeptics such as business mogul Donald Trump, who has soared in recent 2012 GOP presidential polls in recent weeks while stoking the so-called “birther” controversy.

Mr. Trump claimed a victory for forcing the White House’s hand in the matter.

“I am really honored, frankly, to have played such a big role in hopefully, hopefully, getting rid of this issue,” he told reporters during a visit to New Hampshire, though he said more investigation has to be done. “Now we have to look at [the birth certificate], see if it real, is it proper.”

A CBS News/New York Times poll last week showed that 45 percent of registered GOP voters believe Mr. Obama was not born in the United States, while 33 percent think he was and 22 percent told the news outlets they were unsure.

Mr. Obama’s father was born in Kenya, and there had been persistent doubts raised about Mr. Obama’s birthplace, which could have complicated his eligibility under the Constitution to run for president.

While Mr. Trump has soared in GOP primary polls while spotlighting the issue, many other senior Republicans in recent days have tried to tamp down the birther issue and said they were satisfied that Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii, as he claimed.

In a blog posting on the White House website, Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said the administration chose to release the document this week because Mr. Obama “believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn’t good for the country.”

“When we should be debating how we win the future, reduce our deficit, deal with high gas prices, and bring stability to the Middle East, Washington, DC, was once again distracted by a fake issue,” Mr. Pfeiffer wrote. “The president’s hope is that with this step, we can move on to debating the bigger issues that matter to the American people and the future of the country.”

In addition to a copy of the certificate, the White House posted correspondence between Mr. Obama’s lawyers and the Hawaii State Department of Health, which said it had made an exception in releasing his original “long-form” certificate in part because of the large volume of requests the agency has received to view it.

“Such inquiries have been disruptive to staff operations and have strained state resources,” said Loretta J. Fuddy, Hawaii’s health director, in a letter to Mr. Obama earlier this week.

In his remarks, Mr. Obama conceded that his decision to release the new certificate won’t satisfy all the conspiracy theorists.

“I know that there’s going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest, but I’m speaking to the vast majority of the American people,” he said. “We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We’ve got better stuff to do. I’ve got better stuff to do.”


[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

White House Releases Obama's Long-Form Birth Certificate

Published April 27, 2011

| FoxNews.com


[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
AP

President Obama gestures while speaking to reporters about the controversy over his birth certificate April 27 at the White House.

The White House has released President Obama's long-form birth certificate, saying the document is "proof positive" the president was born in Hawaii.

The release marked an unexpected turn in the long-simmering, though widely discredited, controversy over Obama's origin. Obama's advisers have for the better part of three years dismissed questions about the president's birth, directing skeptics to the short-term document released during the 2008 campaign. But as the issue gained more attention at the state level and particularly in the 2012 presidential race, Obama said Wednesday that it was starting to distract attention from pressing challenges like the budget.

The president, who discussed the release at the White House without taking questions, said he had been "puzzled" by the enduring shelf life of the issue and acknowledged the announcement may not put the so-called birther controversy to rest. But he told the public and the media that it's time to "get serious."

"We do not have time for this kind of silliness," Obama said. "We've got better stuff to do. I've got better stuff to do. We've got big problems to solve."

He said the country will not solve those problems if people are "distracted by

The White House has released President Obama's long-form birth certificate, saying the document is "proof positive" the president was born in Hawaii.

The document released by the White House lists Obama's birthplace as Honolulu, Hawaii, and his birth date as Aug. 4, 1961. The hospital listed is Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital. The name on the birth certificate is Barack Hussein Obama II.

Obama's presidential campaign, in response to questions raised in 2008, at the time posted a short-form version of the document on the Internet. But conspiracy theories continued to fester. They gained legs in recent weeks as Donald Trump, who is toying with the possibility of running as a presidential candidate in 2012, repeatedly and publicly questioned Obama's origin.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer noted that what started as Internet chatter had moved into the national political debate and ended up being discussed regularly on mainstream news outlets.

Pfeiffer, on the White House blog, said the president thought the attention was "bad for the American people" and directed his counsel to request access to the long-form document from the Hawaii State Department of Health. The department granted an exception to release the long-form document "because of the tremendous volume of requests they had been getting," the White House said.

"At a time of great consequence for this country -- when we should be debating how we win the future, reduce our deficit, deal with high gas prices, and bring stability to the Middle East, Washington, DC, was once again distracted by a fake issue," Pfeiffer said on the blog. "The President's hope is that with this step, we can move on to debating the bigger issues that matter to the American people and the future of the country."

Trump, speaking in New Hampshire, took credit Wednesday for the president's decision to release the document. He said his team would have to examine the birth certificate and questioned why the White House took so long, but indicated he wanted to move beyond the issue.

"Today, I'm very proud of myself, because I've accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish," Trump told reporters. "Why he didn't do it when everybody else was asking for it, I don't know. But I am really honored, frankly, to have played such a big role in hopefully, hopefully getting rid of this issue."

The document states that Obama's father, Barack Hussein Obama, was born in Kenya and that his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was born in Kansas.


Click here to see the birth certificate. (First page):
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Click here to see the birth certificate. (Second page):
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]