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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pictured in October 2012, has become one of the most powerful people in Washington. Here's a look at her life and career through the years.
Before she married Bill Clinton, she was Hillary Rodham. Here, Rodham talks about student protests in 1969, which she supported in her commencement speech at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Rodham, center, a lawyer for the Rodino Committee, and John Doar, left, chief counsel for the committee, bring impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon in the Judiciary Committee hearing room at the U.S. Capitol in 1974.
Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton helps first lady Rosalynn Carter on a campaign swing through Arkansas in June 1979. Also seen in the photo is Hillary Clinton, center background.
Bill Clinton embraces his wife shortly after a stage light fell near her on January 26, 1992. They talk to Don Hewitt, producer of the CBS show "60 Minutes."
With Hillary, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton waves to the crowd at his victory party after winning the Illinois primary on March 17, 1992.
Al Gore, Tipper Gore, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton wave to supporters at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, after they gave speeches on family values on August 23, 1992.
Clinton gestures at a campaign rally November 3, 1992, in Denver. After taking office, President Clinton chose his wife to head a special commission on health care reform, the most significant public policy initiative of his first year in office.
Bill and Hillary Clinton have a laugh together on Capitol Hill in 1993.
Clinton pours herself a cup of tea in 1993 while testifying to the Senate Education and Labor Committee about health care reform.
Clinton speaks at George Washington University on September 10, 1993, in Washington during her husband's first term.
Clinton waves to the media on January 26, 1996, as she arrives at federal court in Washington for an appearance before a grand jury. The first lady was subpoenaed to testify as a witness in the investigation of the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas.
Hillary Clinton looks on as President Clinton discusses the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 26, 1998.
Hillary and Bill Clinton arrive at Foundry United Methodist Church on August 16, 1998, in Washington. He became the first sitting president to testify before a grand jury when he testified via satellite about the Lewinsky matter.
Clinton shakes hands during a St. Patrick's Day parade in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Queens, New York, on March 5, 2000.
Clinton waves to the crowd as she arrives on the stage at the Democratic National Convention on August 14, 2000, in Los Angeles.
Clinton campaigns for a Senate seat October 25, 2000, at Grand Central Station in New York.
Hillary Clinton is sworn in as a senator of New York in a re-enactment ceremony with, from left, President Clinton, nephew Tyler, daughter Chelsea, brother Hugh Rodham, mother Dorothy Rodham and Vice President Al Gore on January 3, 2001, in Washington.
Andrew Cuomo, Eliot Spitzer and Clinton celebrate with a crowd of Democratic supporters after their wins in various races November 7, 2006, in New York.
Clinton speaks during a post-primary rally on January 8, 2007, at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The Clintons pay a visit to the 92nd annual Hopkinton State Fair in Contoocook, New Hampshire, on September 2, 2007.
Clinton speaks at a campaign rally September 2, 2007, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She was running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Clinton addresses a question during a debate with other Democratic presidential candidate at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, on September 26, 2007. Also pictured are U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, left, and former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska.
Felipe Bravo, left, and Christian Caraballo are covered with Hillary Clinton stickers in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, on January 8, 2008.
Clinton campaigns in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with her daughter, Chelsea, on January 1, 2008, two days ahead of the January 3 state caucus.
Clinton waves as she speaks to supporters at the National Building Museum on June 7, 2008, in Washington. After pulling out of the presidential race, Clinton thanked her supporters and urged them to back Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States.
Obama and Clinton talk on the plane on their way to a Unity Rally in Unity, New Hampshire, on June 27, 2008.
Obama watches Clinton address the Democratic National Convention on August 26, 2008. The two endured a long, heated contest for the 2008 nomination.
Sen. Charles Schumer, left, looks toward Secretary of State designate Clinton as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. John Kerry, center, looks on during nomination hearings January 13, 2009, on Capitol Hill.
Clinton testifies during her confirmation hearing for secretary of state on January 13, 2009, in Washington.
Clinton, as secretary of state, dances with a local choir while visiting the Victoria Mxenge Housing Project in Philippi, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, on August 8, 2009.
Clinton looks through binoculars toward North Korea during a visit to an observation post July 21, 2010, at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.
Clinton walks up the steps to her aircraft as she leaves a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on July 23, 2010, in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Hillary and Bill Clinton pose on the day of their daughter's wedding to Marc Mezvinsky on July 31, 2010, in Rhinebeck, New York.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Clinton observe a moment of silence before a NATO meeting November 19, 2010, in Lisbon, Portugal.
Clinton listens as Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu makes a brief statement November 29, 2010, before a bilateral meeting at the State Department in Washington.
Clinton shakes hands with a child during an unannounced walk through Tahrir Square in Cairo on March 16, 2011.
Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Clinton and members of Obama's national security team receive an update on the Osama bin Laden mission May 1, 2011, in the Situation Room of the White House.
Clinton checks her personal digital assistant prior to departing Malta on October 18, 2011.
Clinton speaks as Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai listens during a news conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 7, 2012.
Clinton arrives at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel on July 15, 2012.
Clinton looks on as Obama makes a statement in response to the attack at the U.S. Consulate in Libya on September 12, 2012.
Clinton applauds Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a ceremony where Suu Kyi was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal on September 19, 2012.
Bill Clinton kisses his wife after introducing her at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting on September 24, 2012, in New York City.
Clinton shakes hands with Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf on September 24, 2012, in New York.
Clinton stands during a news conference following meetings at the prime minister's office in Pristina, Kosovo, on October 31, 2012. Clinton said that Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence, fiercely opposed by Serbia, was "not up for discussion."
Clinton chats with Suu Kyi before Obama speaks at the University of Yangon in Yangon, Myanmar, on November 19, 2012.
Obama looks at Clinton before the start of a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, far right, during the East Asian Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on November 20, 2012.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Clinton at the prime minister's office November 20, 2012, in Jerusalem.
Clinton receives a sports jersey and football helmet from Deputy Secretary Tom Nides, center, after returning to work on January 7, 2013, following a fall where she hit her head and doctors later detected a blood clot. The number 112 represented the number of countries that she had visited as secretary of state.
Clinton and her husband arrive for the inauguration for Obama's second term on January 21, 2013.
Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill on January 23, 2013. Lawmakers questioned Clinton about the security failures during the Benghazi, Libya, attacks that led to the death of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
From left, first lady Michelle Obama stands with former first ladies Laura Bush, Clinton, Barbara Bush and Rosalynn Carter at the opening ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas on April 25, 2013.
From left, Clinton, former first lady Laura Bush and former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush listen to speakers during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela in Soweto, South Africa, on December 10.
Clinton ducks after a woman threw a shoe at her while she was delivering remarks at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries conference in Las Vegas on April 10.
Clinton tours the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York with President Barack Obama, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, first lady Michelle Obama and former President Clinton on May 15.
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- Tim Stanley: Hillary Clinton bashed by GOP, praised by Obama and still front-runner
- He says she has new book, top anchors interviewing her; this usually signals candidacy
- She must deal with two compromised records, with two administrations, he says
- Stanley: GOP weighing many candidates. Dems offering one. Do voters want another Clinton?
Editor's note: Timothy Stanley is a historian and columnist for Britain's Daily Telegraph. He is the author of the new book "Citizen Hollywood: How the Collaboration Between L.A. and D.C. Revolutionized American Politics." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- For all the heavy baggage that she carries, Hillary Clinton is walking on water.
Ham-fisted attempts by the Republicans to smear her brain have backfired horribly (rightly so; they were distasteful), while Republican efforts to hang Benghazi around her neck (Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tried this weekend) have barely dented her popularity among Democrats. Obama calls her a "buddy" who would make a "very effective" president, and the former secretary of state remains clear front-runner for her party's 2016 presidential nomination.
In fact, right now, she's the only real runner. And that can't be healthy -- for democracy, for the Democrats or even for Clinton.
How can we be sure she's running? Well, the United States might be the only country in the world where a politician signals his or her ambitions by writing a book. This does not, alas, mean that America's politicians are unusually literate. Often, the book is bad; usually, it's ghostwritten; only occasionally is it worth reading. But it's generally a sign.
The title of Hillary Clinton's "Hard Choices" -- out on June 9 and helpfully promoted by a series of interviews with TV's biggest anchors -- suggests a woman who is trying to make sense of a troubled recent past. Becoming Obama's secretary of state, Egypt, Libya and the Benghazi fiasco were all arguably "choices" forced upon her. That they were "hard" implies an admission that the outcome was far from desirable.
Clinton is a potential presidential candidate who has to deal with not just one compromised record but two. First, the Bill Clinton administration; second, the Obama administration. In both cases, she seems keen to remind us, she wasn't technically in charge.
Such is the strange ambiguity of Hillary Rodham Clinton. First, she was the co-president and architect of Bill's most ambitious domestic reforms, the anti-Tammy Wynette. Then, she was the betrayed wife who did stand by her man. Next the liberal senator, the presidential candidate of the overwhelming majority of the establishment, suddenly a primaries loser who had to reinvent herself as Annie Oakley, finally a loyal servant of the President, a man whose abilities she questioned so rudely in the nomination battle.
Clinton defends Benghazi response in book
Chaffetz rejects Hillary's Benghazi claims
Getting a read on Hillary Clinton
Like Richard Nixon before her, she is one of those politicians who is defined by longevity. Her politics have changed so often that it's hard to precisely define what Clintonism is anymore, but she has lasted so long in the spotlight that it's become almost impossible to conceive that someday she won't be president.
That 2016 is Clinton's time is reflected in the surprising, even depressing, lack of an alternative. What is Vice President Joe Biden doing with his weekends? Or Newark Mayor Cory Booker (who has ruled himself out, if you can believe that)? Or New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo? Without them, who are we left with? Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, headed for Iowa but probably not very well known there? Sen. Elizabeth Warren, sometimes pushed as the working-class Hillary but who would probably be unelectable outside of Massachusetts? Warren, interestingly, has written a book, too.
Contrast this silence with the Republican side.
The GOP is weighing up Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (whether they've showed any interest in running or not), and this pre-contest contest gives the impression that all the action is on the right while the Democrats just sit out what remains of Obama's second term, waiting for the whole thing to come to a dignified end.
Stabenow: Why I'm ready for Hillary
And the Republican struggle is attractively philosophical. Paul represents the rise of libertarianism; Christie channels the spirit of Mayor Richard Daley; Bush is our generation's Nelson Rockefeller; Santorum is running to build heaven on Earth. These people are discussing ideas that will shape the future of the country. Clinton is talking largely about herself.
Of course, two years is almost an eternity in politics, and things might change. At pretty much this point in the 2008 contest, Clinton also commanded a lead over her opponents and looked set to win the nomination -- and we all know what happened come Iowa. She is a different kind of politician now, having built statesman status with her time as secretary of state. But headed into her second go at the nomination after over 20 years of dominating the national stage, it's possible that many voters will simply decide that they want a change.
Is America really so locked in its partisan, elitist politics that would tolerate another Clinton vs. Bush campaign? Those who think continuity is unhealthy in a democracy might judge not.
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