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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - April 28, 2011
Statement by President Barack Obama on Release of His
Birth Certificate
by: President Barack Obama
The White House
Hello, everybody. Now, let me just comment, first of all,
on the fact that I can't get the networks to break in on
all kinds of other discussions -- (laughter.) I was just
back there listening to Chuck -- he was saying, it's
amazing that he's not going to be talking about national
security. I would not have the networks breaking in if I
was talking about that, Chuck, and you know it.
As many of you have been briefed, we provided additional
information today about the site of my birth. Now, this
issue has been going on for two, two and a half years now.
I think it started during the campaign. And I have to say
that over the last two and a half years I have watched
with bemusement, I've been puzzled at the degree to which
this thing just kept on going. We've had every official in
Hawaii, Democrat and Republican, every news outlet that
has investigated this, confirm that, yes, in fact, I was
born in Hawaii, August 4, 1961, in Kapiolani Hospital.
We've posted the certification that is given by the state
of Hawaii on the Internet for everybody to see. People
have provided affidavits that they, in fact, have seen
this birth certificate. And yet this thing just keeps on
going.
Now, normally I would not comment on something like this,
because obviously there's a lot of stuff swirling in the
press on at any given day and I've got other things to
do. But two weeks ago, when the Republican House had put
forward a budget that will have huge consequences potent-
ially to the country, and when I gave a speech about my
budget and how I felt that we needed to invest in education
and infrastructure and making sure that we had a strong
safety net for our seniors even as we were closing the
deficit, during that entire week the dominant news story
wasn't about these huge, monumental choices that we're
going to have to make as a nation. It was about my birth
certificate. And that was true on most of the news outlets
that were represented here.
And so I just want to make a larger point here. We've got
some enormous challenges out there. There are a lot of
folks out there who are still looking for work. Everybody
is still suffering under high gas prices. We're going to
have to make a series of very difficult decisions about
how we invest in our future but also get a hold of our
deficit and our debt -- how do we do that in a balanced
way.
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And this is going to generate huge and serious debates,
important debates. And there are going to be some fierce
disagreements -- and that's good. That's how democracy is
supposed to work. And 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 distract-
ed. We're not going to be able to do it if we spend time
vilifying each other. We're not going to be able to do it
if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not
facts. We're not going to be able to solve our problems
if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.
We live in a serious time right now and we have the
potential to deal with the issues that we confront in a
way that will make our kids and our grandkids and our
great grandkids proud. And I have every confidence that
America in the 21st century is going to be able to come
out on top just like we always have. But we?re going to
have to get serious to do it.
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. But I'm speaking to the vast majority of the
American people, as well as to the press. We do not have
time for this kind of silliness. 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.
Thanks very much, everybody.
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