And guess who’s taking credit? Possible 2012 presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
“I am really honored, frankly, to have played such a big role in hopefully, hopefully, getting rid of this issue,” Trump told reporters after exiting his helicopter in New Hampshire, according to the Associated Press. (See video below.)
The White House has made the long-form birth certificate available in PDF form. Still, Trump wants to see the actual document with his own eyes.
The controversy around Obama’s birthplace started in 2008 during his presidential campaign. With opponents suggesting he was born in Kenya or Indonesia and therefore not qualified to run for president, Obama’s campaign requested his birth certificate from the state of Hawaii. The state sent the campaign the President’s birth certificate, but the criticism didn’t end.
Trump recently reopened the issue, and Obama decided to put an end to the debate once and for all. “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.”
Obama believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn’t good for the country. 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. Obama had previoulsy produced a certificate of live birth, which is standard in Hawaii.
“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,” says Dan Pfeiffer, White House Communications Director. “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.”
{youtube width=”500″}f6hsm81VXKY{/youtube}
