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*snip*

She emerges in the confidential cable traffic as tough as any man, eager to deal with the Saudis as the unreliable ally they pretend not to be. In one signed memorandum she calls Saudi Arabia the largest source of money for Islamist terror gangs.

*snip*

This is the kind of tough talk that diplomats never use in public - many of them don’t know how to talk this tough even in private - and the secretary of state was as abashed as anyone in official Washington with the WikiLeaks disclosures.

Diplomats must be able to speak freely to each other and to the home office without eavesdroppers. Nevertheless, embarrassing or not, the cable traffic reveals Mrs. Clinton as one of the toughest people in an administration of softies. But she clearly doesn’t want to go back to the future.

The secretary of state, who had repeatedly discouraged talk that she might run for president again, maybe even reprise her run against Mr. Obama, last week came close to taking “a Sherman” - named for the Civil War general who famously scotched presidential speculation with his vow that “if nominated I will not run, if elected I will not serve.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/9/hillarys-unexpected-good-fortune/