She also announced that she would hold chats on the Internet in coming days to listen to voters' views.

Clinton slammed Bush for damaging the United States' international stature. "Only a new president can regain America's position as a respected leader in the world," she said.

She did not dwell on a the idea that her presidency would be a first for a US woman.

But she acknowledged: "As we campaign to win the White House, we will make history and remake our future. We can only break barriers if we dare to confront them, and if we have the determined and committed support of others."

Clinton though faces a battle between her image as a deeply polarizing figure and a Washington and Democratic party insider.

Were she to become president, her husband, who served two terms, would take on the unprecedented and so far undefined role of first male US presidential spouse.

When her husband was in office, opponents of Hillary Clinton's own influential advisory role argued the first lady had undue powers as an unelected person. Bill Clinton now could face similar scrutiny should Hillary Clinton be sent back to the White House, as president.

（Agencies）

Vocabulary:

cerebral：appealing to or requiring the use of the intellect,intellectual rather than emotional（理智的）

run for：競選（總統）

（英語點津陳蓓編輯）