That makes me wonder about myself. I went to college at night and really went into class, listened to the professor and left right after class. It makes me nervous big time that if anyone did my background and wanted to find out some classmates that knew me. They really would come up empty. I did not get involved with anyone at all. Even the professors I just did my work and that is it. Absolutely no personal talks or even asking for help at all. I would hate for people to want to know my college background. I think we have so many other things to get Obama on that it might not be fair to question his classmates especially if he did not get involved with them in anyway.
A totally different circumstance. I've attended -- and taught -- night school. The environment -- and the personalities -- are totally different from the usual college experience.
The Columbia professor I'm referring to was famous for interacting with his students and purportedly had a photographic memory -- claiming to remember every student he'd ever had.
That's possible. I had such a professor in college myself. He called the roll from memory on the second day. And, on the third, he simply asked if anybody knew why X and Y weren't there. About ten years later, I was visiting the campus and crossed his path. He smiled and addressed me by my first name.
I'm not claiming that Root's or the professor's recollection are in any way conclusive, though. They're just datapoints in a field of datapoints. Most of them, interestingly, tending to confirm one another...