Civil rights only for "ordinary people"?

GREENSBORO, NC -- There was a line in President Obama's State of the Union address last night that jumped out at me:

"That's why, working with this Congress, I will reform our surveillance programs because the vital work of our intelligence community depends on public confidence, here and abroad, that privacy of ordinary people is not being violated."

That does not inspire confidence.

The United States Constitution does not confine its protections to some arbitrary definition of "ordinary" people. Indeed, the notion that venturing to extraordinary means  relinquishing the right to privacy is a chilling warning that you better stay in line. Thomas Payne, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Susan B. Anthony were anything but "ordinary people."

What kind of America are we headed to when remaining ordinary is a requirement for keeping one's Constitutional civil rights?