There seemed, if for only a short while, a yearning both within Washington and the country at large for a return to normalcy, a desire to abandon the unilateralism and wars of choice that became the hallmark of U.S. foreign policy beginning on September 11, 2001.
Niebuhr understood that the exercise of global power in the postwar decades came with its own set of problems. The pursuit of good ends in politics had to take full account of the un-loveliness of human nature and power.
Obama claimed Niebuhr was his 'favorite philosopher' and there were hopes that he would lead U.S. foreign policy in less aggressive directions.
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