http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/23/nyregion/23HILL.html?hpRelentlessly and ubiquitously, Mrs. Clinton is out there, pounding away at Republicans, responding to her critics, staking out distinct positions on everything from Afghanistan and Iraq (she is a hawk) to terror money and unemployment insurance benefits (she wants more). By design or not, in the last few months she has been showing a feisty side that her critics long suspected was there but that her advisers say she has been reluctant to display.
"She's just much more comfortable," said Harold M. Ickes, a longtime friend and adviser who acknowledged that Mrs. Clinton was "gun-shy" at first, largely because of her turbulent days in the White House. "She's much more sure afoot," he said.
People in both parties agree that one reason Mrs. Clinton has become such a presence may be that she can. Not only is she a huge celebrity, whose memoir became a big-seller around the globe, but she is also the most popular elected Democrat in the nation, at least as measured by polls.
And, according to her advisers, she is not running for president this year, so is more free to speak out than the nine Democrats who are.
This, naturally, has only renewed speculation about her motives.
Some people say she is riding her celebrity status and popularity among Democrats to establish herself as a party leader, perhaps to run for president, perhaps because — as she has complained to intimates — she believes the Democratic Party is in trouble.
Others say she feels a personal obligation to speak out against Republicans, particularly President Bush and his allies, for squandering what she regards as the policy successes of Bill Clinton's presidency.
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