Do you know anything about Obama's favorite theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr?

Due I suppose to a prevailing attitude of anti-intellectualism, Obama does not place emphasis on his being an intellecual lover of learning and reading. He must do a lot of reading on airplanes. Maybe we shoud invite him to Fluther. Maybe he is already a member. Well, okay, not too likely.

I was listening on the radio to a discussion of Reinhold Niebuhr, who Obama considers a major influence. I had never heard of Niebuhr before. I got some idea of Niebuhr’s thinking, but could use more information.

What I gather is that Niebuhr was a moral realist. He believed that we are all born with the capability to do evil and that power corrupts. He considered checks and balances to be perhaps the most important part of the Constitution. I think he also believed that the means justifies the ends, a belief I do not go along with because it is not so easy to distinguish means and ends. He saw both the potential greatness of American influence as well as the potential evils.

Can you provide some more information about Niebuhr?