As part of our continuing series on the months of June, July, August, and September, we turn to Jodi Kantor’s (ELITIST!) New York Times piece on Barack Obama, the Law School professor. Kantor, who received an assist on the story from the Maroon’s own Adrian Florido, talked to high-ranking faculty like Dennis Hutchinson and Richard Epstein, and a fair number of former students. The result is a picture of a professor both engaged with his students and the task at hand, but detached from the world of academia–always with his eye on the bigger prize.Epstein provided the juiciest quotes, showing more than a hint of disdain for his former colleague:

“I don’t think anything that went on in these chambers affected him,” said Richard Epstein, a libertarian colleague who says he longed for Mr. Obama to venture beyond his ideological and topical comfort zones. “His entire life, as best I can tell, is one in which he’s always been a thoughtful listener and questioner, but he’s never stepped up to the plate and taken full swings.”

Read the full story here.