Obama to Oprah on birth certificate: I remember being born in Hawaii

President Obama told talk show host Oprah Winfrey Wednesday that he was never worried about "birther" challenges to his citizenship because he recalled being born in Hawaii.

"When it first came up were you thinking, 'I hope I was born here?'" asked Winfrey.

With his wife at his side, Mr. Obama, grinning, responded, "Can I just say? I was there, so I knew that -- I knew I had been born. I remembered it."

Obama releases long-form birth certificate

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama appear with Oprah Winfrey during a taping of Winfrey's talk show in Chicago, April 27, 2011.

/ Harpo Productions

Earlier, when Winfrey brought up the birth certificate issue, first lady Michelle Obama said, her hands in the air, "He was born here!"

The Obamas' appearance on Winfrey's show, which will air Monday, comes as the talk show host wraps up her longtime show and shifts her focus to her fledgling television network, OWN. Winfrey has hosted the show for 25 years, but this is her first interview with a sitting president. She is ending her show on May 25.

The previously non-political Winfrey famously threw her support behind Mr. Obama in the 2008 presidential race, campaigning for him in three key early nominating states and raising millions of dollars for him.

Mr. Obama taped the appearance in Chicago before traveling to New York City for a trio of fundraisers. It came following the White House release of Mr. Obama's long-form birth certificate amid challenges from Donald Trump and others expressing skepticism about his place of birth to produce it.

Trump takes credit for Obama birth certificate release, but wonders "is it real?"

Echoing his statement Wednesday morning, the president complained to Winfrey that amid important debates over the future of the country, "the biggest news was this birth certificate thing."

"And so at that point I said to my team, look, even though this is not usually what the State of Hawaii does," he said. "Even though the Republican Governor of Hawaii, the Democratic Governors of Hawaii, all the various officials had confirmed that I was born here, let's ask them for a special dispensation where they will go ahead and provide us with the original to see if we can put this to rest."

Before the appearance, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Mr. Obama "considers Oprah a friend and he looks forward to being on the show."

Obama birth certificate release won't kill "birther" movement

[lucifersshadow]

He remembers being born, and he remembers that he was born in Hawaii? I suppose he knew he was in that particular state when he popped out. That is the biggest line of BS I have heard in the last fifty years.

[catmomtx]

JOKE!! Try and understand that the President was joking! I mean my goodness, lighten up !!

[documemts]

He's playing it! "I was there,". Making fun of the "birthers". He can keep using this in the run-up to his next term. Just play the birther-thing like a fiddle, and they'll just get more fringey as they go. Funny!

[Empire---George____]

Does this guy badly want to be a TV star, or Rock-Star ? He certainly has no interest in being a Chief Executive.

[catmomtx]

No, HE IS President of the United States of America, elected by a majority of American voters. He has shown more of an interest in being President than the previous President considering George Bush set an all time record for taking 900+ days of vacation.

[Bisk1]

by JavMD April 27, 2011 9:46 PM EDT
you all need to understand WHY this is an 'issue' from day one.

It was reported (by everyone is staying away from the real issue including the media) that he was NOT born in a hospital but at 'home'.

************************

Who or where exactly did you read this ??? Dumb Dumb Repugs !!

[Empire---George____]

The doctor's signatures are on the document....save the Dumb, Dumb for those who are really dumb.

[xxxjackofspadesxxx]

He remembers being born? Someone get a shovel cuz the bs is getting deep. Anybody meet someone in their life who remembers their day of birth? Average age of first memories is 3 years 6 months.

Said he would close Gitmo, bring our troops home from Iraq, repell Bush era tax cuts, confront Iran and North Korea with dialogue (remember that one?), create millions of jobs, and now, he can remember the day he was born.

While your getting the shovel call Geppetto. I see a nose growing.

[Zann-Zel]

It was a JOKE idiot! LOL!

[loncan3000]

OMG you have to be 10 yrs old...if not you really should get help if u thought he was serious....clearly u did since u typed this paragraph of embarassment. you should really be ashamed.

[Empire---George____]

by Western_Cactus April 27, 2011 7:28 PM EDT

I have a very simple request. The Constitution says the President must be a "natural born citizen". Please explain what this means. Be honest now. You KNOW it isn't just being born in the US. You're going to have to look at yourself in the mirror. You know what it means, but you're afraid to answer it honestly in print. So sad.
______________

What are you trying to get at ?

"There are four ways to gain citizenship....First, by being born in the United States or one of its territories.....Second, if you were born to parents who are U.S. citizens, then you may be a U.S. citizen yourself......This process is called "acquisition" of citizenship......Third, you can be a citizen through the naturalization process, which generally involves applying for, and passing, a citizenship test.......Lastly, you may be a citizen if one or both of your parents have been naturalized. This is called "derivation" of citizenship. It may come as a shock, but many people in the United States have already obtained their American citizenship without realizing it."

[Empire---George____]

The funniest part to me, was him saying "I have much important things to do than this sillyness" and then immediately heads off to Oprah's talk show ??

That's what's important to him ? Television Talk shows ? Not, we have important financial/economic matters on our plate, not we have war or military strategy to deal with.....going to Oprah is more important then confirming to the American people the lingering question about his Constitutional requirements.

[Bisk1]

I bet Repugs like you would wish he took a break or headed out on vacation too ..... right ??

[Empire---George____]

by Bisk1 April 28, 2011 11:48 AM EDT

Yeah, At least he wouldn't be doing any more damage, so plan your next snowcone/beach trip, we know that's what's important.....however, I'm getting tired of paying for endless vacations during a recession.

[infantryman1968]

by NB62 April 27, 2011 10:36 PM EDT

The birther movement is just a smoke screen for outright racism for what these morons wont come out and openly say is we hate Obama because he is black and we dont want a black President in the White House,but they are too coward to express their true feelings so use the birth issue to hide their racists beliefs


LOL!


What about someone who keeps their opinions to themselves and votes for anyone except Obama in 2012?

Are they closet racist?

[xxxjackofspadesxxx]

Oh is that so? Because I remember voters in Harlem having McCain's views listed to them and saying that's why they were voting for Obama. Was that racism or just plain stupidity?

[Smokey75]

I'll keep saying it the Birthers on the right are differnet then the 911 turhters on teh left. There is always going to be a segament of the left and right who will cling to any reason the can to hate a president who is of a differnet political perspective.

2 1/2 years ago when it first came about I bout into the BC thing I have since realized how foulish I was. Just as when the 911 truther theories came about a good portion of the left bought into it. But as the facts came to light the majority of the left back of the truther garbage. Just in the past two years the birhter bumbers has shrunk and now that the long form has been released the number of birthers will be sa small the number of truthers who still cling to the lie.

Both sides are going to loons there is nothing the right or the left can do about it we just have to ignore the loons and move on.

[Smokey75]

WOW! Believe or not I put that into word and did spell check. I guess I must not be smart enough to copy and paste properly.

[Empire---George____]

Smokey75, no problem, we all make type errors.

[jdog1063]

Obama remembers being born in Hawaii?? The last time a President remembered something publicly about his childhood, it was Bill Clinton remembering the charred remains of all the Black churches being burned in Arkansas.
Come to find out, there was no record of those ever happening. Hmmmmmmmmmm????

[user000049586849302948603]

Wow, I won't vote for Bill Clinton then. As for Obama's claim that he remembered being born in Hawaii, do you think that he might have been being factitious? Duh?