U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers her speech at the opening of the World... 
(AP)
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's tense exchanges with Pakistani civilians and Arab diplomats over a harrowing week of foreign stops exposed the confining limits of her office.
On her most ambitious and contentious overseas trip as secretary of state, Clinton had to resort to damage control after she appeared to mangle the Obama administration's message on frozen Mideast peace talks.
And while she scored points back home by standing up to angry Pakistanis who confronted her about drone-launched U.S. missile strikes, her blunt questioning of the resolve of Pakistan's government exposed American impatience with the country's incremental steps against terrorists.
In each case her extraordinarily public approach to diplomacy — for better or worse — reflected not only her personal style but also President Barack Obama's promise to reach out openly to friend as well as foe.
What remains less clear is whether Clinton's hot-button politician's persona works any better at producing international results — let alone clarity — than a more classic diplomat's cooler tact.
There were no breakthroughs, and it's too early to know how her public and behind-the-scenes performances in Pakistan, Abu Dhabi, Israel, Morocco and Egypt will play out. But Clinton emphatically followed through on a pledge she made last month when she said the time had come for the U.S. government to communicate more aggressively abroad and challenge U.S. critics on their own turf.
From here on, she said then, "we're going to be in the mix and we're going to be in the mix every day."
It is a boldly political take on taking on the world, and Clinton is relying on some of her old campaign trail tricks and moxie to press America's case.
In Pakistan, she aggressively sold the administration's stance against al-Qaida during several crowded "town hall" public forums that had been her stock-in-trade during the 2008 presidential primary run against Obama.
