The White House has released Barack Obama's full birth certificate in an effort to finally put to rest what Obama called "carnival barkers" making the matter a distraction from the serious issues facing the US.
In a televised statement, Obama said he had been "puzzled" at how questions over his place of birth had persisted since his election in 2008, declaring: "We do not have time for this kind of silliness."
"We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers," Obama said.
Donald Trump, the real estate dealer and television personality reportedly weighing a run for the Republican presidential nomination, immediately took credit for Obama's announcement.
"Today I'm very proud of myself because I've accomplished something that nobody else was able to accomplish," Trump told journalists at an airport in New Hampshire, after repeatedly raising the subject in recent interviews.
Trump has claimed to have investigators in Hawaii researching Obama's birth, although he has not given any details and a CNN investigation failed to find evidence of anyone working on Trump's behalf.
Hawaii's registrar certified the new photocopy of the document provided to the White House on Monday. It states that Barack Hussein Obama II was born at 7.24pm on 4 August 1961 at the Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu city.
The certificate is signed by the delivery doctor, Obama's mother and the district registrar. His mother, then 18, signed her name (Stanley) Ann Dunham Obama.
The birth certificate records the president's father as Barack Hussein Obama, age 25, born in Kenya, and lists his occupation as student and "race of father" as African.
Obama's mother is recorded as "Caucasian" under race, and as born in Wichita, Kansas.
The White House also released a letter from the president requesting two certified copies of his original certificate of live birth. Also released was a letter from Loretta Fuddy, Hawaii's director of health, approving the request.
In a further statement, the White House said Obama had requested Hawaii's state department of health to make an exception to allow the legal release of the certificate, and that it granted an exemption in part "because of the tremendous volume of requests they had been getting".
The decision to release the so-called long form certificate may end the convoluted conspiracy theories advanced by a small group who believed Obama was secretly born outside the United States – most likely in Kenya, his father's home country – and smuggled back into the country.
In an effort to quell the rumours the Obama campaign released a copy of his short-form birth certificate before the 2008 presidential election. But the rumours persisted, and a recent Gallup poll published by USA Today found that nearly one in four Americans think Obama was probably or definitely born in another country, while 20% said they didn't know. Only 38% of Americans polled said Obama was definitely born in the US.
In a televised statement, Obama said he had been "puzzled" at how questions over his place of birth had persisted since his election in 2008, declaring: "We do not have time for this kind of silliness."
"We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers," Obama said.
Donald Trump, the real estate dealer and television personality reportedly weighing a run for the Republican presidential nomination, immediately took credit for Obama's announcement.
"Today I'm very proud of myself because I've accomplished something that nobody else was able to accomplish," Trump told journalists at an airport in New Hampshire, after repeatedly raising the subject in recent interviews.
Trump has claimed to have investigators in Hawaii researching Obama's birth, although he has not given any details and a CNN investigation failed to find evidence of anyone working on Trump's behalf.
Hawaii's registrar certified the new photocopy of the document provided to the White House on Monday. It states that Barack Hussein Obama II was born at 7.24pm on 4 August 1961 at the Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu city.
The certificate is signed by the delivery doctor, Obama's mother and the district registrar. His mother, then 18, signed her name (Stanley) Ann Dunham Obama.
The birth certificate records the president's father as Barack Hussein Obama, age 25, born in Kenya, and lists his occupation as student and "race of father" as African.
Obama's mother is recorded as "Caucasian" under race, and as born in Wichita, Kansas.
The White House also released a letter from the president requesting two certified copies of his original certificate of live birth. Also released was a letter from Loretta Fuddy, Hawaii's director of health, approving the request.
In a further statement, the White House said Obama had requested Hawaii's state department of health to make an exception to allow the legal release of the certificate, and that it granted an exemption in part "because of the tremendous volume of requests they had been getting".
The decision to release the so-called long form certificate may end the convoluted conspiracy theories advanced by a small group who believed Obama was secretly born outside the United States – most likely in Kenya, his father's home country – and smuggled back into the country.
