Story highlights Obama's default position is professorial -- to the delight of his allies and the anger of his opponents

Given that Trump was elected on his unorthodoxy any of his predecessors would show him as a major departure

(CNN) Former President Barack Obama re-emerged into public life on Monday in Chicago and, in the process, offered a potent reminder of what a radical change in direction the country took in the 2016 election.

Obama sat in the middle of a group of young people -- all of whom shared their own personal stories about their involvement in public life and why more people their age didn't follow their lead. He spoke, briefly, at the start of the event about what drew him into community service and politics -- "this community taught me that ordinary people, when working together, can do extraordinary things" -- but spent most of the rest of the event serving as the moderator of the panel.

Obama asked questions here and there to prompt answers from the (nervous) panelists and occasionally would interject his own views, particularly about how the silo-ing of media consumption had created a culture where no one really listens to each other anymore.

But, generally speaking, Obama wasn't actually talking all that much. And, what he did talk about -- the importance of organizing, gerrymandering, the fracturing of the media -- weren't exactly red-meat talking points. It was a professor holding a discussion group with students.

Which, of course, makes sense. Obama's default position is professorial -- to the delight of his allies and the anger of his opponents.

Read More