Obama makes time for birth certificate "silliness"
Updated 3:58 p.m. Eastern Time
"We do not have time for this kind of silliness," President Obama said this morning. But then he made time.
Newly irritated by questions on whether he's a genuine native-born American and can prove it, questions given new prominence by possible presidential candidate Donald Trump, Mr. Obama released - for the first time - copies of his long-form birth certificate.
At the lectern in the White House briefing room, Mr. Obama said he's watched the issue with "bemusement" and has been "puzzled at the degree to which this thing just kept on going."
He felt the "birther" issue was distracting the press and the nation from more important matters including the budget, Medicare and soaring prices of gasoline.
Mr. Obama didn't mention Donald Trump by name, but he took an unmistakable swipe at those calling on him to make birth certificate public.
"We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers," said the president.
Mr. Obama's claim there is no time for birther "silliness" drew the ire of Republicans, who were quick to note that the president has made time to attend three fundraisers this evening in New York City -- and to tape an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show this afternoon.
The first fundraiser is a dinner at the home of former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, and the second is a dinner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel. There will be approximately 400 people at these two events.
The final event, sponsored by Gen44, is at Town Hall with 1,300 guests. The Roots will perform at the Town Hall event.
The events are designed to include the broad range of the president's supporters, with tickets starting at $44 and ranging to the legal maximum limit of $35,800.
The president thought he had put the birth issue to rest in 2008 by releasing copies of his "Certification of Live Birth" issued by the State of Hawaii.
But Donald Trump revived the questions and gave them new prominence in every TV interview he gave. So Mr. Obama last week directed his private attorney Judith Corley to write the Hawaiian Department of Health and request - on his behalf - "two certified copies of my original certificate of live birth."
Republicans slam timing of Obama's birth certificate release
The copies were delivered to the White House yesterday afternoon. The press office scheduled an unusual press briefing at 8:45 this morning to release copies -- and announce the new steps Mr. Obama was taking to try to settle the birth certificate issue once and for all. We were told the president himself would make a press statement an hour later, where he ridiculed those making an issue of his absent birth certificate.
"We do not have time for this kind of silliness," he said. "We've got better stuff to do. I've got better stuff to do. We've got big problems to solve. And I'm confident we can solve them, but we're going to have to focus on them -- not on this."
Yet, Mr. Obama knows better than to think the birth certificate matter is now a dead issue.
"I know that there's going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest," he told reporters.
Donald Trump, for one, said he was mostly satisfied. "I am really happy that this has finally taken place," he told reporters this morning on arrival in New Hampshire. "I feel I accomplished something really, really important."
But he tried to slap another ball into the president's court, questioning why Mr. Obama doesn't release the transcript of his college grades.
Obama birth certificate release won't kill "birther" movement
