House Majority Leader Eric I. Cantor said Sunday he thinks President Obama is a natural-born U.S. citizen and that questions on the issue have no place in Capitol Hill policy-making discussions.
"I don't think it's an issue that we need to address at all," the Virginia Republican said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "It is not an issue that even needs to be on the policymaking table right now whatsoever."
Still, Mr. Cantor said there is no need to denounce as crazy the so-called "birthers," who think Mr. Obama's Hawaii birth certificate is fake and that he was born outside the U.S. and thus ineligible to be president.
"I don't think it's nice to call anyone crazy, OK?," Mr. Cantor told the show's host David Gregory. "Why is it that you want me to go and engage in name-calling?"
Mr. Cantor added: "I think the president's a citizen of the United States . . . I believe this president wants what's best for this country. It's just how he feels we should get there, that there are honest policy differences."