Obama's birther joke draws laughs in Florida

By NBC News staff and wire services

ORLANDO, Fla. - Birther jokes? Even President Barack Obama is cracking them.

Saturday during a campaign stop for beer and some politicking at a Florida sports bar and grill, the Gator's Dockside, Obama came to a table with lots of children.

Told that one blond-haired youngster, Andre Wupperman, was born in Hawaii, Obama grinned.

"Do you have a birth certificate?" Obama asked the boy, drawing laughter from the table. Wupperman, who lives in Orlando, turns 7 next week.

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Aug. 4, 1961, the son of a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas.

But he's had to repeatedly fend off conspiracy theorists -- the "birther movement" -- who say he wasn't born in this country and therefore can't be president under the Constitution.

Even the "Certificate of Live Birth" made available during the 2008 presidential campaign and attestations by Hawaii state officials have been insufficient for some folks.

So Obama released a long-form copy of his birth certificate last year in an effort to quell the rumors.

Last month, Obama's campaign lashed out at Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney when he said at a Michigan rally: "No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate."

Romney said his comment was meant as humor. The Obama campaign said it showed him enlisting himself with the conspiracy theorists.