Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pictured in October 2012, has become one of the most powerful people in Washington. Here's a look at her life and career through the years: 
Before she married Bill Clinton, she was Hillary Rodham. Here, Rodham talks about student protests in 1969, which she supported in her commencement speech at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. 
Rodham, center, a lawyer for the Rodino Committee, and John Doar, left, chief counsel for the committee, bring impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon in the Judiciary Committee hearing room at the U.S. Capitol in 1974. 
Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton helps first lady Rosalynn Carter on a campaign swing through Arkansas in June 1979. Also seen in the photo is Hillary Clinton, center background. 
Bill Clinton embraces his wife shortly after a stage light fell near her on January 26, 1992. They talk to Don Hewitt, producer of the CBS show "60 Minutes." 
With Hillary, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton waves to the crowd at his victory party after winning the Illinois primary on March 17, 1992. 
Al Gore, Tipper Gore, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton wave to supporters at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, after they gave speeches on family values on August 23, 1992. 
Clinton gestures at a campaign rally November 3, 1992, in Denver. After taking office, President Bill Clinton chose his wife to head a special commission on health care reform, the most significant public policy initiative of his first year in office. 
Bill and Hillary Clinton have a laugh together on Capitol Hill in 1993. 
Clinton pours herself a cup of tea in 1993 while testifying to the Senate Education and Labor Committee about health care reform. 
Clinton speaks at George Washington University on September 10, 1993, in Washington, during her husband's first term. 
Clinton waves to the media on January 26, 1996, as she arrives at federal court in Washington for an appearance before a grand jury. The first lady was subpoenaed to testify as a witness in the investigation of the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas. 
Hillary Clinton looks on as President Bill Clinton addresses the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 26, 1998. 
Hillary and Bill Clinton arrive at Foundry United Methodist Church on August 16, 1998, in Washington. He became the first sitting president to testify before a grand jury when he testified via satellite about the Lewinsky matter. 
Clinton shakes hands during a St. Patrick's Day parade in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Queens, New York, on March 5, 2000. 
Clinton waves to the crowd as she arrives on the stage at the Democratic National Convention on August 14, 2000, in Los Angeles. 
Clinton campaigns for a Senate seat October 25, 2000, at Grand Central Station in New York. 
Hillary Clinton is sworn in as a senator of New York in a re-enactment ceremony with, from left, President Bill Clinton, nephew Tyler, daughter Chelsea, brother Hugh Rodham, mother Dorothy Rodham and Vice President Al Gore on January 3, 2001, in Washington. 
Andrew Cuomo, Eliot Spitzer and Clinton celebrate with a crowd of Democratic supporters after their wins in various races November 7, 2006, in New York. 
Clinton speaks during a post-primary rally on January 8, 2007, at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire. 
The Clintons pay a visit to the 92nd annual Hopkinton State Fair in Contoocook, New Hampshire, on September 2, 2007. 
Clinton speaks at a campaign rally September 2, 2007, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. 
Clinton addresses a question during a debate with other Democratic presidential candidate at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, on September 26, 2007. Also pictured are U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, left, and former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska. 
Felipe Bravo, left, and Christian Caraballo are covered with Hillary Clinton stickers in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, on January 8, 2008. 
Clinton campaigns in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with her daughter, Chelsea, on January 1, 2008, two days ahead of the January 3 state caucus. 
Clinton waves as she speaks to supporters at the National Building Museum on June 7, 2008, in Washington. After pulling out of the presidential race, Clinton thanked her supporters and urged them to back Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States. 
Obama and Clinton talk on the plane on their way to a Unity Rally in Unity, New Hampshire, on June 27, 2008. 
Obama watches Clinton address the Democratic National Convention on August 26, 2008. The two endured a long, heated contest for the 2008 nomination. 
Sen. Charles Schumer, left, looks toward Secretary of State designate Clinton as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. John Kerry, center, looks on during nomination hearings January 13, 2009, on Capitol Hill. 
Clinton testifies during her confirmation hearing for secretary of state on January 13, 2009, in Washington. 
Clinton, as secretary of state, dances with a local choir while visiting the Victoria Mxenge Housing Project in Philippi, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, on August 8, 2009. 
Clinton looks through binoculars toward North Korea during a visit to an observation post July 21, 2010, at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas. 
Clinton walks up the steps to her aircraft as she leaves a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on July 23, 2010, in Hanoi, Vietnam. 
Hillary and Bill Clinton pose on the day of their daughter's wedding to Marc Mezvinsky on July 31, 2010, in Rhinebeck, New York. 
U.S. President Barack Obama and Clinton observe a moment of silence before a NATO meeting November 19, 2010, in Lisbon, Portugal. 
Clinton listens as Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu makes a brief statement November 29, 2010, before a bilateral meeting at the State Department in Washington. 
Clinton shakes hands with a child during an unannounced walk through Tahrir Square in Cairo on March 16, 2011. 
Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Clinton and members of Obama's national security team receive an update on the Osama bin Laden mission May 1, 2011, in the Situation Room of the White House. 
Clinton checks her personal digital assistant prior to departing Malta on October 18, 2011. 
Clinton speaks as Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai listens during a news conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 7, 2012. 
Clinton arrives at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel on July 15, 2012. 
Clinton looks on as Obama makes a statement in response to the attack at the U.S. Consulate in Libya on September 12, 2012. 
Clinton applauds Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a ceremony where Suu Kyi was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal on September 19, 2012. 
Bill Clinton kisses his wife after introducing her at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting on September 24, 2012, in New York City. 
Clinton shakes hands with Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf on September 24, 2012, in New York. 
Clinton stands during a news conference following meetings at the prime minister's office in Pristina, Kosovo, on October 31, 2012. Clinton said that Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence, fiercely opposed by Serbia, was "not up for discussion." 
Clinton chats with Suu Kyi before Obama speaks at the University of Yangon in Yangon, Myanmar, on November 19, 2012. 
Obama looks at Clinton before the start of a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, far right, during the East Asian Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on November 20, 2012. 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Clinton at the prime minister's office November 20, 2012, in Jerusalem. 
Clinton arrives December 4, 2012, for a NATO meeting to discuss Syria and Turkey's request for Patriot missiles to be deployed protectively on the Turkish-Syrian border. 
Clinton receives a sports jersey and football helmet from Deputy Secretary Tom Nides, center, after returning to work on January 7, 2013, following a fall where she hit her head and doctors later detected a blood clot. The number 112 represented the number of countries that she had visited as secretary of state. 
Clinton and her husband arrive for the inauguration for Obama's second term on January 21, 2013. 
Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill on January 23, 2013. Lawmakers questioned Clinton about the security failures during the Benghazi, Libya, attacks that led to the death of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. 
From left, first lady Michelle Obama stands with former first ladies Laura Bush, Clinton, Barbara Bush and Rosalynn Carter at the opening ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas on April 25, 2013. 
Bill and Hillary Clinton speak to guests at the Clinton Global Initiative on June 14, 2013, in Chicago. 
Clinton poses for pictures at St. Andrews University in St. Andrews, Scotland, on September 13, 2013. Clinton received an honorary degree from the university. 
From left, Clinton, former first lady Laura Bush and former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush listen to speakers during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela in Soweto, South Africa, on December 10, 2013.
- Alex Castellanos looks at Karl Rove's assault on Hillary Clinton's health and age
- He says his language probably was reckless, but could succeed as part of a larger strategy
- But, he argues, it also continues to damage the Republican brand
Editor's note: Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist, is the founder of Purple Strategies and NewRepublican.org. You can follow him on Twitter @alexcast. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- Was Karl Rove's assault on Hillary Clinton's brain a political masterstroke that will make her presidential campaign more difficult? Or a ham-fisted attack that will contribute to the persistent unpopularity of the Republican Party?
The answer, to many a Republican's regret, is both. Whatever victory Republicans digest from this blow will leave a bitter taste.
Hillary Clinton hasn't yet been president, though it feels like she is running for reelection. That is part of Mrs. Clinton's problem. The constant division her name invites has been with us now for decades. Who wants to continue those battles? Like Vietnam or Watergate, at times it doesn't matter which side of the Clinton conflict we take. We are exhausted by the relentless requirement that we engage them.
Age and health are always issues in major political races, and fairly so, but they are usually aired gracelessly. I served my apprenticeship in politics working for mad-genius GOP pollster and strategist Arthur Finkelstein.
While he was mapping the campaign for brassy, upstart Al D'Amato, Arthur came up with a unique strategy to do what was thought impossible: defeat in a primary an untouchable Republican icon -- legendary New York Sen. Jacob Javits.
Javits, a liberal Republican, was out of step with Barry Goldwater's GOP but Republican voters had too much respect for the old senator to replace him. A near octogenarian, Javits had slowed a step and was beginning to slur his speech, presenting the initial symptoms of ALS, which would fell him within the decade.
Finkelstein's strategy? Give conservative GOP primary voters permission to say publicly what only a few whispered privately -- and Arthur was none too subtle. Finkelstein released an attack ad that wrinkled the noses of New York's political elite. Its purpose being impropriety, it ended with the memorable line, "And now, at age 76 and in failing health, he wants six more years." New York's left-leaning upper-crust gasped, but Finkelstein didn't stop there.
The inspired part of the strategy was the second step: Arthur had planned for the D'Amato campaign to fire him for the negative assault. That would not only distance D'Amato from the attack and leave his candidate wearing a white hat, it would also generate another delicious round of news coverage. The "fire-Finkelstein" debate kept the story alive for the remaining days before the election. Sometimes, in politics as in chess, a knight sacrifices himself to take the queen. Javits' career came to its end.
Karl Rove is not on the ballot in 2016. At least in the short term, in any brutal exchange between a brass-knuckled political operative and Hillary Clinton, guess who wins and who loses?
Clinton has already lost once, running as the candidate of experience against a younger candidate of hope and change. Political tides often wash in as high as -- if not higher than -- they have before. It could all happen to Hillary again.
My experience is that once America moves forward a generation, it seldom moves backward. It's not Hillary's age that is the issue, but how young or old she would make the country. Rove has opened the door to Clinton's real weakness: Her lack of vision is more of an issue than her years.
Clinton defends Hillary against Rove 
Are Karl Rove's attacks hurting the GOP? Are Karl Rove's attacks hurting the GOP? That other ClintonBill Clinton had no such debility. He was always the candidate of the future. His song was "Don't Stop Thinking about Tomorrow." His pledge, repeated nearly two dozen times in his acceptance speech at the 1996 Democratic convention, in his campaign against World War II's Bob Dole, was to build "The Bridge to the 21st Century." President Clinton was inspired to enter politics, he admits, as a 16-year-old on a visit to Washington, in a moment captured by cameras, when he shook hands with the New Frontier's President John F. Kennedy, whom he then emulated.
Ronald Reagan was attacked for his age and mental acuity. America learned he was an optimist with a glorious sense of humor and a vision of them that lit the world as a "Shining City on a Hill," so they found him forever young, regardless of his maturity and experience.
Kennedy, Clinton and Reagan were young because they kept us young. Unlike those predecessors, however, Hillary Clinton isn't known for her optimism or inspiring vision.
She is a pragmatist, not a futurist. America has known her for a long time. Even after 20 years, a stay in the White House, a career in the Senate and a tour as secretary of state, we do not know what stars she would follow.
It is not unreasonable to ask where a candidate would go before we trust her to lead us there. It's hard to imagine that only now, after decades in the public eye, Hillary Clinton would suddenly discover her destination.
Unfinished businessHillary has only one attribute that makes her politically youthful and connects her to our future. It is, however, a powerful one: America has yet to have a female president. The power of that incomplete task should not be understated.
In making the decision to nominate and elect our first black president, America rightly believes it acted as a good and noble nation. It advanced the defining belief that we are a country offering equal opportunity to everyone.
In making that choice, however, America also made another decision: Not to elect our first female president. Women were left at the back of the bus. As I travel the country these days and speak to audiences of varied political persuasions, I am often struck by the quiet but growing movement of women, especially younger women, Democrat and Republican, who believe their time has come. Much of Hillary's support says, "It is our turn."
Is that enough to keep Clinton "forever young", like Reagan? Not completely. Reagan's eternal youth, like Kennedy's, was actually the understanding that he would keep our country "forever young". Without similar vision and optimism, Hillary's crusade remains only a quest for personal achievement. To that purpose, Karl Rove has opened a wound that will bleed and hurt Clinton. Unfortunately, it will also hurt the Republican Party Rove aims to help.
Gingrich: Karl Rove was totally wrong. 
Rove responds to Clinton comment backlash 
Rove: Clinton 'brain damage'? GOP has its own problemsRight now the GOP is a cause few are proud to join. We are a dark and purposeless confederation, known for primarily for saying "no" and telling people, not what they can be, but what they should not do. We seem to employ our principles only with only the darkest and most defensive intentions.
This assault on Hillary Clinton will only aggravate that perception of the GOP, and the moment couldn't be worse.
Many young voters have had their hearts broken by President Barack Obama. In return for the dreams, hopes and votes they invested in him, Obama has rewarded them with huge student debt, no jobs, declining prospects, and an intergenerational transfer of wealth from their empty pockets to their gluttonous elders. Those young voters are available to Republicans who would lift their eyes over the horizon and lead them to something better. They are not eager to stand beside Rove holding a bloody ax.
Please don't think me apologetic. I love negative political campaigns and have run more than a few of them. I believe Republicans have an obligation to disqualify a failed, industrial-age political philosophy that is leading our nation to decline. We have responsibility to warn voters about hot stoves and shout an alert not to touch them.
Yet, our ultimate obligation is to cook something and feed a population hungry for leadership. It remains our mission to inspire and take an ever-hopeful people from a great nation to an even better one.
Ultimately, this is a collective failure, belonging to all but a few Republicans. GOP leaders and sages rarely make an effective case that their principles offer the only possible path to a future of promise, progress and prosperity.
When we don't lift those principles before voters, when we don't step up and lead, we are defined only by tactical wedge issues that divide and not big principles that inspire, unite, and attract the next generation.
In this battle, we have dug our hole a little deeper and exposed the GOP's lack of leadership. It is a big price to pay for a party in need of optimism and vision. It is also a steep cost to a country in need of renewal, confidence, and big dreams.
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