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Barack Obama - Birth Certificate Release

In his address on April 27, 2011, President Barack Obama discussed the ongoing controversy surrounding his birth certificate, confirming he was born in Hawaii and expressing frustration over the media's focus on this issue instead of pressing national concerns. He emphasized the need for the nation to address significant challenges such as unemployment and budget decisions, urging Americans to avoid distractions and unite for problem-solving. Obama concluded by asserting that while some will remain skeptical, the majority should focus on more important issues facing the country.

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17 views2 pages

Barack Obama - Birth Certificate Release

In his address on April 27, 2011, President Barack Obama discussed the ongoing controversy surrounding his birth certificate, confirming he was born in Hawaii and expressing frustration over the media's focus on this issue instead of pressing national concerns. He emphasized the need for the nation to address significant challenges such as unemployment and budget decisions, urging Americans to avoid distractions and unite for problem-solving. Obama concluded by asserting that while some will remain skeptical, the majority should focus on more important issues facing the country.

Uploaded by

nsh
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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AmericanRhetoric.

com
Barack Obama
Address on Release of Official Certification of Birth

Delivered 27 April 2011, Washington, D.C.

AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio

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 -- 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
potentially 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

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AmericanRhetoric.com
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.

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 distracted. 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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