In the interview, Clinton sidestepped the opportunity to defend Dean's stance, which she could have done even while declining to back a particular nominee. Clinton said, "Well, Tim, I'm not going to comment on any of the nominees, because I have taken a neutral position." Further, she took a stance that seems broadly reflective of Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, in lambasting the way the Iraq War had been prosecuted, but not the war itself or even the decision to go to war.

Importantly, in that same interview, Clinton took aim at the Bush administration for contemplating what she perceived as a potential exit strategy from Iraq, now a central element of her platform: "It is clear that there is some concern that the process in Iraq for elections is being driven not by the conditions on the ground in Iraq but by the time table for our own elections. That the administration is intent upon some kind of exit strategy, some kind of transition before our elections," said Clinton.

And in contrast to the Democrats that were calling for a conclusion to the war, Clinton advocated for sending more troops to Iraq. When Russert asked Clinton: "So if the president came forward and said, ‘We need another 50,000 American troops for Iraq,' you'd look at that favorably?" Clinton responded, "I would look at it very carefully and I would say, ‘You know, let's get the job done.'"

And later in the interview, Clinton's statement on Iraq sounded strikingly similar to that used by Bush administration officials. She said: "And I think that, given the globalization of information and communication, we have to be very forthright in saying, you know, ‘Failure is not an option. We are going to stay the course,' but we've got to figure out what the course is."

Also, on Iraq Clinton has been dropping some of the caveats she placed on her earlier statements regarding the war. Last week in Hartford she said, "I believe we can restore American leadership and moral authority in the world, beginning with ending the war in Iraq and bringing our troops home within sixty days of when I become President." She did not again reference "leaving behind a smaller contingent in safe areas with greater intelligence and quick-strike capabilities," as she did in her 2006 Princeton address, without specifying just what size a "smaller contingent" would be. And in "Hillary Clinton's Plan for to End the War in Iraq as President," available on Clinton's official website, she again does not make mention of such a contingent. The last sentence of the plan does reads: "She would devote the resources we need to fight terrorism and will order specialized units to engage in narrow and targeted operations against al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in the region." Clinton does not specify the size such specialized units would be, where they would be based, or whether they will have authority to strike only in Iraq, or beyond.

And though Clinton criticized the Bush administration for failing to act more unilaterally and forcefully on Iran in Princeton in 2006, she has also promised to repair America's broken relationships and to address the challenges of Iraq, in the wake of a U.S. drawdown of troops, through a multilateral framework. "As it stands now, the United States is shouldering far too great a share of the financial burden for rebuilding Iraq," said Clinton in her July speech in Des Moines. "As of February 2007, foreign donors had made good on only about 4 billion dollars of the 15 billion in pledges from the Madrid Conference. Some wealthy Gulf nations have come up especially short. Countries around the world also have a stake in Iraq's future-and they should contribute to securing it." Clinton does not specify, though, how the nations that would be disinvited from negotiations with Iran would be inclined to donate to billions of dollars to Iraq in wake of a military mission they originally objected to

On Kazakhstan and Bill Clinton

On Sunday in an interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace, Clinton defended the statements made by her husband during his visit to Kazakhstan, alongside the Canadian financier Frank Giustra, who was later awarded a uranium-mining deal that had been sought by large multinationals with broad experience in the region. Bill Clinton had suggested that Nazarbayev could become head of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which promotes human rights and democracy, despite Hillary Clinton's criticism of the leader for his repressive policies. Giustra subsequently donated $31 million to Bill Clinton's foundation.

When asked about the trip and her husband's statements, Clinton said: "Well, let me set the record straight. He went to Kazakhstan to sign an agreement with the government to provide low-cost drugs for HIV/AIDS, a growing problem in central Asia. While he was there, he met with opposition leaders and certainly spoke out about, you know, the hopes that we have to have a good relationship with that country." She then suggested that the differences of her statements on Nazarbayev proved her independence from her husband and former president: "I have been on record for many years against the anti-democratic regime, calling for changes, standing against efforts that would bring them into positions of leadership in the global community without their making changes. So I think it is clear that I will stand on my own two feet. I will say what I believe. And I will be a president who pursues policies that I think are in the best interests of our country."

But the clarity of Clinton's argument became less apparent when Wallace pushed her further, and asked whether a difference in position between her and her husband on Kazakhstan would not cause some confusion. Clinton not only justified the position of her husband by pointing out that Vice President Cheney-who Clinton has criticized repeatedly in the past-had taken a similar one, she also strongly suggested that she did, in fact, agree with her husband's statements and that they reflected the positions she would take as president as part of her counterterror strategy:

Well, Dick Cheney also went to Kazakhstan and praised the current regime. You know, you sometimes have to use both carrots and sticks to move these regimes to do what they should be doing. But I don't think there's any doubt about where I stand and what I intend to do. Obviously, these are difficult problems that require seasoned leadership. We have a lot of interests in that part of the world with natural resources and trying to make sure there's a bulwark against spreading extremism.

The Kazakhstan issue highlights part of the difficulty in parsing the positions of Senator Clinton from those of her husband. Many commentators are correctly reticent to hold the senator responsible for some of the policies and statements of the former president, and it is perhaps partly due to that restraint that the senator's response to the Kazakhstan issue has not received greater coverage. Still, Clinton should be held accountable for her own statements regarding the former president, particularly if they are inconsistent.

Regardless of whether Clinton did or did not contradict herself on Kazakhstan and other issues, the senator appears to have neutralized those questions with graceful facility. And while Clinton did not demonstrate any remarkable foresight or political valor on Iraq, she can be forgiven for some evolution of her positions as conditions in that country deteriorated. Still, voters and the media should press her to elaborate on some of her vaguer current positions. And both can legitimately question whether, as president, Clinton would act in the long-range interests of the country or turn a keener eye on the political temperaments of the moment.

Ximena Ortiz is a senior editor at The National Interest.