Obama releases birth form
Source: Agencies |
April 28, 2011, Thursday
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Responding to critics' relentless claims, US President Barack Obama yesterday produced a detailed Hawaii birth certificate in an extraordinary attempt to bury the issue of where he was born and confirm his legitimacy to hold office.
He declared, "We do not have time for this kind of silliness."
By going on national TV from the White House, Obama portrayed himself as a voice of reason amid a loud, lingering debate on his birth status. Though his personal attention to the issue elevated it, Obama said to his critics and the media, it is time to move on to bigger issues.
Citing huge budget decisions in Washington, Obama said, "I am confident that the American people and America's political leaders can come together in a bipartisan way and solve these problems. We always have. But we're not going to be able to do it if we are distracted."
Obama spoke shortly after the White House released a copy of the long form of his birth certificate, which contains more extensive data than a version released earlier.
The certificate says Obama was born to an American mother and Kenyan father, in the state of Hawaii, which makes him constitutionally eligible to hold the office of president.
Obama released a standard short form before he was elected in 2008 but requested copies of his original birth certificate from Hawaii officials this week in the hope of ending the controversy.
White House officials have said the issue was settled long ago. But so-called "birthers" opposed to Obama have kept it alive. Potential Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently began questioning why Obama hadn't ensured the long form was released.
"We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers," Obama said yesterday.
In a statement after Obama spoke, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called the issue a distraction - and yet blamed Obama for playing campaign politics by addressing it.
"The president ought to spend his time getting serious about repairing our economy," Priebus said. "Unfortunately his campaign politics and talk about birth certificates is distracting him from our number one priority - our economy."
Polls show large numbers of Republicans continue to doubt Obama is a natural born citizen eligible to be president.
The newly released certificate is signed by the delivery doctor, Obama's mother and the local registrar. His mother, then 18, signed her name (Stanley) Ann Dunham Obama.
The form says Barack Hussein Obama II was born at 7:24pm on August 4, 1961, at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, within the city limits of Honolulu.
There's no mention of religion. It says his father, Barack Hussein Obama, age 25, was African and born in Kenya and his mother was Caucasian and born in Wichita, Kansas.
Obama's mother and the doctor signed the certificate on August 7 and 8.
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