Obama to Birthers: ‘We Don’t Have Time for This Silliness’

Barack Obama followed the release of his "long-form" certificate this morning with his two cents on the matter, which he says he has followed for the last two and a half years "with amusement." He says he realized, after giving his budget speech, that "the dominant news story wasn't about these huge monumental choices we're going to have to make as a nation. It was about my birth certificate." He continued, "But we're not going to be able to [solve these problems] if we're distracted ... if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts ... if we get distracted by sideshows."

He acknowledged that "there will be a segment of people who for no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest." But "we do not have time for this kind of silliness. We have better stuff to do. I have better stuff to do." Silliness aside, Obama began his remarks with a sort of joke, saying, "Let me just comment first of all on the fact that I can't get the networks to break in on all kinds of discussions," ostensibly a dig at the fact that most networks were covering none other than The Donald's comments on the birth certificate release right up until the last second. (More Barack Obama stories.)