Obama’s ‘Long-Form’ Birth Certificate Is Released
THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Obama on Wednesday posted online a copy of his “long-form” birth certificate from the state of Hawaii, hoping to finally end a long-simmering conspiracy theory among some conservatives who asserted that he was not born in the United States and was not a legitimate president.

The birth certificate, which is posted on the White House Web site, shows that Mr. Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is signed by state officials and his mother.

“The President believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn’t good for the country,” Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, wrote on the Web site Wednesday morning. Mr. Pfeiffer said on the site that Mr. Obama had authorized officials in Hawaii to release the document broadly.

In a statement to the news media Wednesday morning, Mr. Obama said he decided to release the document in an effort to end the “silliness” about his birth that threatened to distract from the serious issues facing the country. » | Michael D. Shear | Wednesday, April 27, 2011

President Obama on His Birth Certificate & the Real Issues Facing America
President Obama discusses the release of his long form birth certificate, having long ago released his standard birth certificate, and says that "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."

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Donald Trump 'proud' of Obama birth certificate publication: Businessman and potential Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump takes the credit for forcing Barack Obama to release a copy of his birth certificate. » | Wednesday, April 27, 2011