Perhaps no one in the administration of US President Barack Obama is as well regarded around the world as his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

After all, Clinton had been well known on the world stage for more than a decade before anyone even heard of Barack Obama.

Clinton first entered the public consciousness when her husband, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. ran for president in 1992.

Coming from a small southern state, Hillary was expected to be a typical candidate's wife, quietly supportive and unobtrusive.

But it became clear early on that Hillary was not going to be typical.

"I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas. but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life," she once said.

Accomplished, assertive, and protective of her husband, she would be a key decision-maker during her husband's campaign and presidency.

When Bill Clinton became president, he quickly appointed her head of a task force that would propose a major overhaul of the US healthcare system, and she became the first presidential spouse to play such an overt role in policy-making.

But in the 1990s, the Republicans and the public were not ready for such bold steps.

"We need health care reform paid for with the employers and employees contributing to make sure every single American is insured," she said in Seattle in 1994.

Health care was defeated, and the First Lady had become the Republic Party's second favorite punching bag after the president.

It was her first lesson in bare knuckle Washington politics.

Thereafter, Hillary adopted a more conventional public image as First Lady, even serving tea and cookies to Cabinet members in the Oval Office.

But there was no mistaking that she continued to play a crucial role in the Clinton presidency.

And when Bill's presidency came to an end in 2000, it was time for Hillary to emerge from his shadow and make her own name on the world stage.

She moved to New York, and despite being accused of carpet bagging, became the state's junior senator.

In the Senate, the highly ambitious Clinton respected tradition and deferred to her more senior colleagues and did not overreach. She soon learned the ways of the Senate and earned the respect of her colleagues.

Senator Clinton continued to show an interest in health care and women's rights, but also became involved in national security issues.

She even voted to support the invasion of Iraq.

For the eight years of the Bush presidency, she made powerful friends, built a respectable legislative record as a moderate Democrat, and quietly became the early front runner for the Democratic Party's nomination for president in 2008.

"I announce today that I'm forming a presidential exploratory committee. I'm not just starting a campaign though. I'm beginning a conversation with you, with America," she said in 2007.

Hillary was going all the way, but history threw a curve ball.

Barack Obama, a freshman senator from Illinois came along and captured the voters' imagination.

Hillary had played on her experience and cultivated the political center, but she remained a polarizing figure for conservatives.

Obama was more liberal and his lack of political experience allowed him to be seen as a Washington outsider who could bring about real change.

It was Obama who captured the voters' imagination and the nomination.

But all those years in Washington had made Hillary very powerful, and Obama needed her support to win the election.

"Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him," she said in Washington in 2008.

"When I started this race, I intended to win back the White House and make sure we have a president that brings our country back on the path to peace, prosperity and progress, and that's what exactly what we're going to do by ensuring that Barack Obama walks to the doors of Oval Office on January 20th, 2009."

There was talk that she would be asked to run as his vice presidential running mate, but Obama went with Delaware Senator Joe Biden instead, leading to more talk that she would have a Cabinet post in an Obama administration.

Obama named her secretary of state.

There were fears among the Obama people that she would overshadow her boss, but Secretary Clinton has been a loyal and deferential team player and an astute diplomat carrying the president's agenda of increased engagement with the world.

But she has also managed to highlight issues that she has long been concerned about like women's health, education, and human rights.

In Manila this week, Secretary Clinton will highlight the continued importance of Philippine-American relations, but she will also take time to visit victims of typhoons and see how they're doing.

At 63, Secretary Clinton has stepped out of her husband's shadow and is at the peak of her career as one of the most powerful and well recognized public figures in the world.