Rolling Stone founder and editor Jann Wenner opened a July 10 profile of Barack Obama with this fawning assessment of Obama’s campaign airplane:

The first thing I notice about the plane is how low-key it is, all coach seating from back (the press) to front (the candidate). There is no separate compartment for this potential president; he just holds down the second row for himself and his newspapers.

The message here is égalité reigns on Air Force Change — so unlike the egomaniacal and hierarchical trappings of standard campaigns. I wonder how Wenner took the following report from CBS News:

Barack Obama’s new campaign plane is nothing short of grand. Well, for the candidate that is.

Obama’s section of the plane rivals that of any first class. Recently the front cabin of the Boeing 757 was retrofitted to install four individual chairs that resemble La-Z-Boys. They are free-standing and made of plush leather with pockets on the sides. There is also a booth which seats four for a meeting or a meal.

His chair has his name and campaign logo embroidered on the back top — “Obama ‘08” on one line and “President” underneath.

Not even a “for” wedged between the two. That’s really “low-key,” eh, Jann? The non-presidential area is divided between business and coach. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Obama’s tricked-out campaign jet. I don’t even think there’s anything wrong with the flying flip-flop. I just can’t get over the folly of those who foolishly read greatness and virtue into every aspect of Barack Obama’s existence, no matter how trivial.