The White House posted the following on its blog this morning in response to a resurgence of “birther” talk, spearheaded by Donald Trump.
In 2008, in response to media inquiries, the President’s campaign requested his birth certificate from the state of Hawaii. The state sent the campaign the President’s birth certificate, the same legal documentation provided to all Hawaiians as proof of birth in state, and the campaign immediately posted it on the internet. That birth certificate can be seen here (PDF).
When any citizen born in Hawaii requests their birth certificate, they receive exactly what the President received. In fact, the document posted on the campaign website is what Hawaiians use to get a driver’s license from the state and the document recognized by the Federal Government and the courts for all legal purposes. That’s because it is the birth certificate. This is not and should not be an open question.
The President believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn’t good for the country. It may have been good politics and good TV, but it was bad for the American people and distracting from the many challenges we face as a country. Therefore, the President directed his counsel to review the legal authority for seeking access to the long form certificate and to request on that basis that the Hawaii State Department of Health make an exception to release a copy of his long form birth certificate. They granted that exception in part because of the tremendous volume of requests they had been getting. President Barack Obama’s long form birth certificate can be seen below:
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. 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.
Click here to view President Obama’s long form birth certificate.
In related news Donald Trump takes credit for the release of the long form birth certificate.
Within minutes of President Obama’s speech about the release of his long form birth certificate in response to persistent questioning of his American citizenship, Donald Trump responded with further doubts of its authenticity, but taking credit for the White House making it available.
Speaking at a press conference in New Hampshire, the potential presidential contender said that he’s “proud” in light of the disclosure. He added, however, “it is rather amazing that all of the sudden” the document surfaces. He suggested it should be inspected to ensure its authenticity.
While White House officials avoided mentioning Trump by name, they said they released the birth certificate partially because the issue had moved from a fringe discussion and into the mainstream media.
This morning, Trump took credit in the White House’s decision to release the president’s birth records. “I am really honored to play such a big role in hopefully, hopefully getting rid of this issue,” he said.
“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.”