English subtitles for clip: File:President Obama on His Birth Certificate & the Real Issues Facing America.webm

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The President:
Now, let me just comment,
first of all,

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on the fact that I can't get
the networks to break in on all

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kinds of other discussions -

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(laughter)

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I was just back there listening to Chuck -- he was saying,

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it's amazing that he's not going
to be talking about national security.

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I would not have the networks
breaking in if I was talking

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about that, Chuck,
and you know it.

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The Press:
Wrong channel.

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(Laughter)

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The President:
As many of you have been briefed, we provided additional

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information today about the site of my birth.

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Now, this issue has
been going on for two,

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two and a half years now.

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I think it started
during the campaign.

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And I have to say that over the
last two and a half years I have

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watched with bemusement, I've
been puzzled at the degree to

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which this thing
just kept on going.

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We've had every official in
Hawaii, Democrat and Republican,

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every news outlet that has
investigated this, confirm that,

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yes, in fact, I was born
in Hawaii, August 4, 1961,

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in Kapiolani Hospital.

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We've posted the certification
that is given by the state of

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Hawaii on the Internet
for everybody to see.

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People have provided
affidavits that they, in fact,

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have seen this
birth certificate.

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And yet this thing
just keeps on going.

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Now, normally I would not
comment on something like this,

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because obviously there's a lot
of stuff swirling in the press

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at any given day and
I've got other things to do.

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But two weeks ago, when the
Republican House had put forward

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a budget that will have huge
consequences potentially to the

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country, and when I gave a
speech about my budget and how I

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felt that we needed to invest in
education and infrastructure and

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making sure that we had a strong
safety net for our seniors even

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as we were closing the deficit,
during that entire week the

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dominant news story
wasn't about these huge,

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monumental choices that we're
going to have to make as a nation.

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It was about my
birth certificate.

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And that was true on most of
the news outlets that were

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represented here.

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And so I just want to
make a larger point here.

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We've got some enormous
challenges out there.

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There are a lot of folks out
there who are still looking for work.

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Everybody is still suffering
under high gas prices.

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We're going to have to make
a series of very difficult

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decisions about how we invest in
our future but also get a hold

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of our deficit and our debt --
how do we do that in a balanced way.

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And this is going to generate
huge and serious debates,

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important debates.

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And there are going to be some
fierce disagreements --

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and that's good.

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That's how democracy
is supposed to work.

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And I am confident that the
American people and America's

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political leaders can come
together in a bipartisan way and

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solve these problems.

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We always have.

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But we're not going to be able
to do it if we are distracted.

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We're not going to be able to do
it if we spend time vilifying each other.

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We're not going to be able to do
it if we just make stuff up and

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pretend that facts
are not facts.

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We're not going to be able to
solve our problems if we get

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distracted by sideshows
and carnival barkers.

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We live in a serious time right
now and we have the potential to

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deal with the issues that we
confront in a way that will make

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our kids and our grandkids and
our great grandkids proud.

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And I have every confidence that
America in the 21st century is

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going to be able to come out on
top just like we always have.

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But we're going to have
to get serious to do it.

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I know that there's going to be
a segment of people for which,

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no matter what we put out, this
issue will not be put to rest.

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But I'm speaking to the vast
majority of the American people,

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as well as to the press.

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We do not have time for
this kind of silliness.

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We've got better stuff to do.

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I've got better stuff to do.

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We've got big problems to solve.

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And I'm confident
we can solve them,

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but we're going to have to
focus on them -- not on this.

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Thanks very much, everybody.