Obama Birth Certificate Released

The White House decided to release President Obama's long-form birth certificate today.  Their desire is to finally rid the national debate over whether or not the President was born in the United States.

President Barack Obama's Long-Form Birth Certificate

During Obama's campaign back in 2008, the shorter birth certificate was released, but it just didn't seem to be enough to satisfy the so-called "birther" community.  The long-form certificate shows what the shorter form did, the President was born in Honolulu on August 4, 1961.  The certificate shown on the right, includes the signature  of an attendant who witnessed the birth and a local registrar, as well as, a certificate number.

President Obama is calling the controversy a distraction from serious issues.  In a statement on the White House Website, communications director Dan Pfeiffer, wrote "The President believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn't good for the country."  "It may have been good politics and good for 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 (not generally provided to those inquiring) and to request on that basis that the Hawaii State Department of Health make an exception in part because of the tremendous volume of requests they had been getting."  Pfeiffer also notes that the release of the long-form certificate should not be seen as any validation that the short form wasn't sufficient, but as a good faith effort to put the issue to rest.

The President is set to record an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show today, he will undoubtedly touch base on this continuing controversy.