Searching for an Obama Doctrine: Christian Realism and the Idealist/Realist Tension in Obama’s Foreign Policy

President Barack Obama entered office with a promise to change the style and substance of his predecessor’s foreign policy. This essay evaluates his efforts by identifying the key policy goals and principled underpinnings of what might be called an Obama Doctrine. I argue that Obama’s distinctive worldview, which holds idealism and realism in generative tension, is deeply rooted in Niebuhrian Christian realism yet diverges from it in important ways. I close with a brief articulation of an Obama Doctrine that reflects the president’s perspective on the proper role of American power and influence in the world.