USA Today

By David Jackson

While calling for less fighting between Republicans and Democrats, President Obama also sent a message last night to critics -- the so-called birthers -- who say he was not born in the United State (and is therefore ineligible for the presidency).

"I was born in Hawaii, what can I say?" Obama told Democratic donors in Boston. "I can't change those facts."

Obama spoke as a state senator in New Hampshire proposes a bill that would require candidates in party presidential primaries to provide birth certificates and affidavits swearing they are at least 35 years old and have lived in the United States for 14 years.

As Obama and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $1 million at the event, Obama also trotted out a theme that we'll likely hear throughout the 2012 presidential campaign.

"We didn't just rescue the economy we put it on the strongest footing for the future," Obama said. "And along the way we saved the auto industry and a few other things."

Obama noted that when he took office, "this country was going through as tough a time economically, as tough a time financially, as any period since the 1930s." As a result, he said, his administration "had to make a series of quick decisions, and often times unpopular decisions."

The president also said he has fulfilled 2008 campaign promises to end combat operations in Iraq.

While pledging to cut the budget, Obama said he will not stand for cuts in education and other essential programs.

The United States should not be about the "haves and the have-nots," Obama said.

"That's not the America that I envision for (daughters) Malia and Sasha," Obama said. "And so we're going to have a lot of work to do."

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