Worried that an increasing amount of press coverage of the “birther” movement was crowding out the debate on other important issues, President Barack Obama released a long-form certificate of birth this morning. The document clearly shows that the President was born in a Hawaiian hospital on August 4, 1961.
The White House released the document early this morning, per the President’s order. He arrived at 9:45 a.m. for a statement where he criticized members of the press for their silliness.
On Friday, the President wrote to Loretta J. Fuddy, the director of health at the State of Hawaii, requesting two copies of his original certificate of live birth. She complied. The President’s counsel took a trip to Hawaii, paid for out of the President’s personal account, to retrive the copies and they were released shortly thereafter.
“I know that there is going to be a segment of people for which no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest,” Obama said. “But I am speaking for the vast majority of the American people as well as for the press. We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We have better stuff to do. I have got better stuff to do. We have got big problems to solve.”
Real estate mogul and potential Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has been largely responsible for the issue returning to the public conscience in recent weeks, applauded the decision and took personal credit for it.
“Today I’m very proud of myself, because I’ve accomplished something that no one else has been able to accomplish,” said Trump on the release of the president’s birth certificate, according to NBC News. “I want to look at it, but I hope it’s true. … But he should have done it a long time ago.”
Not Intent on Arriving 