White House: Here’s Obama’s ‘Certificate of Live Birth’

If you pooh-poohed yesterday's Obama-is-a-citizen declarations by CNN and Fox News anchor Shep Smith, fair warning: You'll likely have a tougher time brushing off this one. The White House today released Barack Obama's "Certificate of Live Birth" (the long form version of the "Certification of Live Birth" released by his campaign in 2008), which you can see in full here. And NPR reports that Obama will be making a statement at 9:45am. In the meantime, the White House explains the reason behind the move:

"The President believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn’t good for the country. It may have been good politics and good 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 ... At a time of great consequence for this country—when we should be debating how we win the future, reduce our deficit, deal with high gas prices, and bring stability to the Middle East, Washington, DC, was once again distracted by a fake issue. The President’s hope is that with this step, we can move on to debating the bigger issues that matter to the American people and the future of the country." You can view Obama's Certification of Live Birth here. (More Barack Obama stories.)