Obama Scolds Media For Focusing On Birthers: 'We Do Not Have Time For This Kind Of Silliness'

At his press conference on Wednesday, President Obama scolded the media for focusing on his birth certificate instead of more important issues.

He started the conference by calling out NBC's Chuck Todd directly.

"I can't get the networks to break in on all kinds of other discussions," he said. "I was just back there listening to Chuck—he was saying, it’s amazing that he’s not going to be talking about national security. I would not have the networks breaking in if I was talking about that, Chuck, and you know it."

He then said that part of the reason that he wanted to release the birth certificate was because he was seeing coverage of the issue dominate the media, rather than discussion of the federal budget or other issues.

While the issue has certainly been heavily covered, the Pew Research Center pointed out that discussion of the birther issue made up for just 4 percent of the news coverage during the period Obama cited in his address. However, Donald Trump was the second most covered newsmaker last week, and his recent media appearances have been almost exclusively related to birther issues.

"I’m speaking to the vast majority of the American people, as well as to the press," Obama said. "We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We’ve got better stuff to do. I’ve got better stuff to do."

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Comments

[dbrett480]

05:46 PM on 05/05/2011

If anything this proved that Chuck Todd needs to be fired.

[Oceras]

11:00 AM on 04/30/2011

Obama has produced his birth certificate. Again. He has proved all you birthers wrong. Think of all the time and money that you all wasted that you could have spent on anger management and learning proper grammar. Peel off your ignorant bumper stickers, burn your signs, and express your apologies in letters to the editor. Get over it!

[RonWis]

09:16 PM on 04/29/2011

"We do not have time for this silliness. We've got better stuff to do. I've got better stuff to do".

In other words all he had to do was produce this document years ago when the issue first arose, instead of being the obstinate individual that he is. We all at one time or another have to produce a document proving that we are of age or meet a requirement, and the vast majority of us do it without thought. Our Mr. President seems to have thought he was above that.....! Until now, when Trump would not let it go away. Just another example of how our President isolates himself from the general public who voted him into the office that he occupies. And then he chastises those same voters because they question his validity, which is and was so easily available to validate in the first place. The epitome of obstinance!!

[Gloria Otting Vestring]

12:57 AM on 04/30/2011

It was never really an issue, Had it been it would have been brought out by people much brighter than Trump.

Clintons would have found out during primaries, and McCain would have found out too.
What they discovered was, there was NO ISSUE!

SO........... the birthers made fools of themselves. Period!

[Oceras]

10:33 AM on 04/30/2011

He did produce it.
Why were these same people not crying out for Bush's birth certificate?

[mlondeaux]

05:39 AM on 05/05/2011

Eventually........

[[e-mail]]

05:40 PM on 04/29/2011

He's absolutely right. How can we waste time on this silliness when there are important things to do like make it to the Oprah Winfrey show on time?

[MovieGuy2010]

04:00 PM on 04/29/2011

Is there a handbook they give them at "Koch Brothers Freedom Works Blog for pay Camp"
that tells them to make their screen name something like

LjKKL25 or Tearack73....

Seems like there lots and lots of these by route newbies basically saying nothing, that have showed up recently, all look like cut from the same cloth?

[mlondeaux]

05:40 AM on 05/05/2011

FYI: There are a lot of "newbies" because AOL is now cramming Huff Post down our throats.

[Gloria Otting Vestring]

08:41 PM on 05/05/2011

And you are unable to make a choice to go elsewhere? Typical!

R's are VERY indecisive! Hey, Just say H_LL no, i won't go, and we won't miss you.

[MovieGuy2010]

03:57 PM on 04/29/2011

Hillarious!

I've got two Ayn Rand commandos running around claiming Europeans are just yearning for the good old days of the Bush/Cheney regime.

Is there no level of fiction these clowns won't try to peddle!

[Gloria Otting Vestring]

12:58 AM on 04/30/2011

One great thing about Obama.. he doesn't hide out like dubya did.

[Trying 4 you]

08:09 PM on 04/30/2011

watch a few of these JVIM.COM to see who Obama is.

[Gloria Otting Vestring]

01:00 AM on 04/30/2011

You do not speak for all Americans! I want the health care program, and I admire him that he took this job as President during the WORST of times, and has brought us back little by little from the brink of the disaster Dubya brought us to.

[p mantis]

05:30 AM on 04/30/2011

I wanted healthcare! (single payer system would be ideal but..corporate power wins) Obama is still better than little boy w.

[goleafsgo]

11:06 AM on 04/29/2011

LOL!  Be careful what you wish for.

[Gloria Otting Vestring]

01:21 AM on 04/30/2011

I've been saying that for a while now, but Obama is not the one dividing this country.. Look to your right.

Soon to be The Union of the United States.

[litebread]

02:59 PM on 04/29/2011

HE'S BEEN GOVERNING AND THE GREEDY REPUBLICANS STILL WANT TO TEAR HIM DOWN AND GET HIM OUT AND WANT TO BE COMPLICATED. NEVER DO THEY WANT TO COMPROMISE. UNTIL BOTH PARTIES WORK TOGETHER THIS ECONOMY WILL ALWAYS BE A MESS. DUH!

[wheeljc]

08:48 AM on 04/29/2011

Given the growing number of citizens who are 'tethered' to the government, I am looking for a LEADER who espouses self reliance contained in the following creed!
AN AMERICAN CREED
I DO NOT CHOOSE TO BE A COMMON MAN
It is my right to be uncommon ---- if I can.
I seek opportunity – not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, “THIS I HAVE DONE.”
By Dean Alfange
Obama merely wants to redistribute other people's money and then call himself, THE PROVIDER-IN-CHIEF, and ends up being the DIVIDER-IN-CHIEF! He is going to end up punishing achievers right out of this Country!! Look at what has happened to oil companies in the Gulf!

[p mantis]

05:35 AM on 04/30/2011

You must be very very young. The common good has a place - your refusal to acknowledge it is childish and you sound like a teabagger who just got his talking points from the wealthy business interests that fund it.

[Oceras]

10:46 AM on 04/30/2011

And when you've lost your job and savings and your six-year old daughter contracts leukemia, will you still not accept a "handout"?

[bearlady50]

08:24 AM on 04/29/2011

obama ought to be arrested for impersonating a president

[BMcCue7]

04:24 PM on 04/29/2011

How does one impersonate what one actually is?

That's absurd.

[Gloria Otting Vestring]

01:07 AM on 04/30/2011

And what did you think when dubya was in office? And the whole world laughed at him?

[mlondeaux]

05:43 AM on 05/05/2011

It seems like the two have something in common after all.

[rads48]

02:19 AM on 04/29/2011

The Democratic Party has become a coalition of special interest groups with little more in common than their desire to feed from the public trough...

..and Obama is the one they count on to keep the trough full.

And all the little collectivist piggies are all deathly afraid that the GOP will cut off the supply of slops,.

Heaven forbid!

They might have to find REAL jobs ....in the (gasp!) private sector!

Face it Lefties.. the nation is going broke from your out of control spending.

"Needs' are endless. The products of the labor of the remaining productive members of the private sector are NOT!

Government consumes; it produces next to nothing. Only the profit making private sector produces a surplus.. which the government can then consume.

You burden the private sector with taxes, with onerous regualtions. You make it almost impossible for it to produce..and then you think that if you beat it hard enough...it will continues to produce.. so you can tax and regulate it even more.

You are worse than delusional if you think you can do this indefinitely.

You are insane ...and historically ignorant.

It ALWAYS fails.

Look at India, Look at China.. Look at what is happening in Europe.

Even in the Soviet Union, with the force of totalitarian government propping it up..and walls built to keep in the productive people..it failed.

Atlas. WILL. Shrug.

[litebread]

02:57 PM on 04/29/2011

WHAT JOBS ARE THERE SINCE WHEN CLINTON AND BUSH AND ALL THE OIL CRAP STARTED THERE HAVE BEEN NONE? GET IT RIGHT BUB.

[rads48]

04:05 PM on 04/30/2011

Mea culpa.

You have a point..

And with the number Obama is playing on the economy..there are likely to be even fewer jobs in the private sector in the future.

[p mantis]

05:37 AM on 04/30/2011

What is wrong with you people? What color is the sky on your planet!

[rads48]

04:05 PM on 04/30/2011

I live on a planet we call Earth.

The sky is usually blue.

What planet are you from?

[naijaman]

09:13 PM on 04/29/2011

Excuse me romelil...but what airplane did previous Presidents fly on during their terms, including during their re-election campaigns? Somehow it's a bad thing when President Obama does it? Don't be absurd!

[Nancy Burian]

11:40 PM on 04/28/2011

No offense Mr. President, but you could have solved this whole issue right away, but you chose not to. If there is a problem - SOLVE IT ! Just show the darn thing and be done with it, but you were the one who kept avoiding the issue. Just like how you're avoiding the amnesty issue. DO
YOU EVEN CARE THAT THE MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS ARE HERE AND THEY ARE TAKING OVER SOME OF OUR NATIONAL FORESTS? HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN HERE? WHY DON'T YOU HAVE OUR MILITARY TAKING CARE OF THIS ISSUE OR ISN'T IT IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR YOU? AND WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, WHY DON'T YOU STOP ALL THOSE BENEFITS THAT THEY GET : FREE HEALTHCARE, WELFARE, FREE FOOD & SCHOOLING, ETC? THAT'S ONE OF THE REASONS WHY WE ARE IN THE POORHOUSE.
THEY CROSSED THE BORDER ILLEGALLY. IT'S PRETTY SIMPLE. MAKE THEM GO BACK, APPLY FOR CITIZENSHIP, LEARN ENGLISH, TAKE THE TEST, PASS IT, AND THEN START PAYING FOR THINGS LIKE WE DO! WHAT'S SO HARD ABOUT THIS? DUH!

[optimist7]

12:58 AM on 04/29/2011

Aha ... we see Mexican drug cartels are the focus of new talking points!!! Duh!

[goleafsgo]

11:10 AM on 04/29/2011

Wow!  They have their scripts already written with their talking points!

[Gloria Otting Vestring]

01:22 AM on 04/30/2011

Out in force tonight aren't they? Must have increased the pay per post.

[Charlie Jones]

04:45 PM on 04/29/2011

Nancy, It is precisely because of ppl like you that I hope more cross over! Come on up ya'll...we've got plenty of room. If it's good enough for the Ellis Islanders like you, then it's good enough for the border crossers south of the Rio Grand...DUH!

[Nancy Burian]

01:34 AM on 05/01/2011

Charlie, I for one, understand why most people want to come here to live. They want a better life. I want a better life. My problem is that they are doing it illegally. They need to do it the right way, the legal way and that's the only way. Apply, learn english, take and pass the test, move here, and start paying for your own life. That's what we do, that's what they should do. What's good for one, is good for all. I have NO problem with people moving here, JUST DO IT THE LEGAL WAY. Let's be fair about this, we are getting screwed here. We are losing our jobs, our homes, and part of the reason is that we are paying for illegal benefits that they do not deserve. It's pretty simple. Stop their benefits and and let's see how they do.

[othel]

09:09 PM on 04/28/2011

Don't know what releasing this birth certifcate accomplishes. The fringe element that were pushing this in the first place aren't going to budge - hell they got books, bumper stickers, and other birther kick knacks they've got to sell. I mean these idiots are so dumb they'll buy a bumper stcker to advertise it.