"MY FELLOW CITIZENS..."

Did anyone else notice that President Obama began his Inaugural Address with those words?

It seemed odd to me to hear a US President not use the normal "My fellow Americans..." in his opening line. But then I thought more about it. I was wondering if that was intentional, and I think it is on several levels.

Level One: On some odd plane in our new President's mind, he hoped to reinforce the idea that he is actually a native-born citizen of the US. Call me crazy. Call me a tin-foil hatter. Call me whatever you wish...I still have my doubts that he was born in Hawaii. If someone can prove to me that he was (like maybe...him, by producing his birth certificate for verification...heck, I'll show him mine) I will always and forever drop this.

Level Two: President Obama knows well that his audience was far greater abroad than here in the US. His "fellow citizen" line was designed to affirm to the Africans, the Asians, the Europeans, the commies in South America...to all the world...that we are all "citizens" of the planet, and that we should not be subject to national boundaries for our citizenship (he said as much when preaching to the Jerrys last year). We are all citizens of the Globe, you know.

Level Three: He was reaching out to Dennis Kucinich as a "citizen" of the Universe. He's gonna need Dennis' support among the alien population to get his agenda passed.