White House releases Obama's birth certificate
(CNN) - President Obama released his original birth certificate Wednesday, saying the controversy surrounding the issue had become a "sideshow."
“We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We’ve got better stuff to do," said Obama.
The surprise release follows recent and sustained remarks by businessman Donald Trump, among others, that raised doubts as to whether the president was born in the United States.
“Over the last two and half years, I have watched with amusement. I have been puzzled with the degree with which this thing just kept going,” Obama told reporters Wednesday.
Responding to the development, Trump said, "I have accomplished something nobody else has accomplished."
"I want to look at it, but I hope it’s true," he told reporters in New Hampshire. "He should have done it a long time ago. I am really honored to have played such a big role in hopefully getting rid of this issue."
Earlier Wednesday, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said the debate has been "really bad for the Republican Party."
The so-called "birther" debate is "good politics" but "bad for the country," said Pfeiffer.
In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper Monday, Trump repeated his doubts and said he had been told the certificate was "missing."
A new CNN investigation revealed earlier this week what most analysts have been saying since the "birther" controversy erupted during the 2008 presidential campaign: Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.
While the president has made light of the controversy, the question remained political red meat for some of his critics. A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll showed that nearly 75% of Americans believe Obama was definitely or probably born in the United States. More than four in 10 Republicans, however, believe he probably or definitely was not born in America.
See Obama's Certification of Live Birth
The U.S. Constitution says only "natural born" citizens can become president - a vague clause that some members of the birther movement contend disqualifies Obama because, they insist, he was born outside the United States.
Skeptics contend, among other things, that Obama was born in his father's home country of Kenya.
TRUMP DID IT! And yes, he deserves credit for forcing Obama to provide transparency. NEXT UP: Release Obama's missing records from Occidental and Harvard universities!
Where are all the birthers comments? Waiting for Faux News to tell them what they should say?
tea party and repugnants: nothing but a bunch of ignorant, racist, over-the-hill fascists. Go away ... far, far away ... to Iran where you can have your kind as President.
Crazies NEVER go away. They will claim some "conspiracy" plan.....
Great . . now let's move on. I don't think he should have released it to the public, my guess is that he was protecting his monther whom he loved. She signed Obama, but the typed name is Dunham and she was only 18 years old on date of birth.
I can see why he delayed this, I think in the future we should have a process and all candidates should be treated the same way. For example an election commission could certify all national candidates. I feel bad that he could no longer protect his mother.
Well, where is the Hawaii info?
I am quite sure a PDF scan of an official documents would reveal watermarks... And there are none.
Nice photoshop work though.
are you people serious? you really think he just waltzed into the white house after he was inaugurated? i know yall have a lower-middle class style of thinking, but there are, kinda, you know, institutions that makes sure he meets all of the requirements. if every US military member recieving just a Secret-level clearance has to go through a massive check, of course the President goes through one.
i dont get how this is insulting 'the people' either, because a) more like the people were insulting him when he thought it was plainly obvious that he was born in hawaii, b) he already produced one version of the certificate.
get over it.
it's the economy stupid, it's the economy stupid, it's the economy stupid....
Name calling on either side of a disagreement only shame the name caller and do not reasonably resolve the point in question. Please argue logically with facts. Two facts are certain. The President's father did not live in America and the President spent a his youth growing up in a foreign country. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to ask for reassurance that the President was in fact born in the US. Because of these facts it seems equally unreasonable for the President to withhold the proof and ultimately the reassurance the Nation needed to stop this controversy long ago. The real question is what was the motivation behind the decision to withhold the proof and all the speculation to continue?
This won't get Maobama elected in 2012. The Black Liberation Marxist is finished. As for the BLM's release of the BC, it's nothing but another distraction from an otherwise unqualified human.
a lot of people on here really should get a life and calm down..you're gonna make yourself have a massive typing almost every other word in caps as if you have turrets (no offense to anyone who actually has turrets) and you can't speak for all American people on this so-called firing (the President) and my (American) opinion has not changed where our President is concerned.
So his mother was nocked up by an East African student and that love child later became a U.S. president. I think people should stop talking down to Obama because he has achieved what for most of us is an unreachablel goal.
Stanley?
Dear Donald, STFU ! ! !
YES! Finally. Now maybe the crazies will go back to focusing on how bad vaccines are or whatever the conspiracy de jour is at the moment.
The Republicans do this every time a democrat wins the Presidency. It was the Whitewater scandal when Clinton won and now it' the "birther" issue with Obama. They think that Americans are stupid enough to fall for it and a minority usually does.
Was that so hard Barry?
Explain why my Hawaii Birth certificate is Black with white lettering an my sisters who was born in 1961 and me in 1962. Obama's is the new one. Ahh the bliss of hope and change.. Money can get you a birthcert from any state blank ..all it takes it money.. Forall you you not born in Hawaii at that time and call ppl names are sad.
Every presidential candidate should be required to submit a "birth certificate" prior to running. Black or democratic presidential candidates should not be exempt until the 3rd year of holding the office. I don't know why all these nut-jobs have a problem with tha simple requirement. Turn this around and make him a conservative and their vitriolic hatred would surely flow the other way.
It still doesn't take away from the fact that he has disdain for American culture and quite possibly is the worst President in U.S. history. No other President in U.S. history has spent trillions like this ideologue. But hey, the Liberals will still suck the kool-aid bottle and believe he's their messiah.
This is not the end of this controversy. They'll just say "but its not real!"
Friggin ridiculous. First, I am disappointed that Obamam felt the need to pacify a fringe group. However, now that he has, can you Tea Baggers shut your holes?
Is African really a race? If so then I am a Texan.
This is just the same old meaningless Certificate of Life Birth that is about as valid as a Mexican Matricula card. Medical records of the birth from that Hawaii hospital could help.
I am not, and have never been an Obama supporter. Not because of race or citizenship, but because of a diff in morals. My husband is an African americian hospital executive, and goes through the same stupidities to prove himself to the "good old white boy". Racism is very much alive and real. When are people gonna grow up?!! (and yes, I'm white)