WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Despite recent statements that are softer than usual, Hillary Clinton -- always seen on the hawkish side of the Democratic Party -- is expected to come out strong on foreign policy once her campaign for the presidency gets fully underway.

At a recent foreign policy conference, the former U.S. secretary of state, who is widely predicted to be Democrats' nominee for presidential candidate in 2016, threw a bone to her liberal base, saying the U.S. should show "respect even for one's enemies, trying to understand and, insofar as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view."

That led critics to upbraid the likely candidate as living on another planet and showing blatant naivete in the face of enemies spurred on by radical Islamist ideology.

But Clinton's lighter approach may not last long, as foreign policy will stand at the forefront of candidates' issues once the campaign season gets into full swing.

"I would not expect Hillary Clinton to take a dovish view on foreign policy given the need to present a firm face to the world," Brookings Institution senior fellow Darrell West told Xinhua, "She needs to show that she has the toughness needed in a chaotic world."

The Islamic State terror group, which has threatened to "fly the flag of Allah in the White House," is on the rampage in the Middle East and has taken vast swaths of Syria and Iraq in a bid to establish a caliphate based on the group's twisted version of Islam.

That has led to ongoing U.S. air bombardments against the terrorists in both Iraq and Syria and the decision to send 1,500 additional U.S. troops into Iraq, even as the Iraqi prime minister calls for more air strikes and weapons from the U.S.

The White House has been under fire for putting the threat of the Islamic State on the backburner until the situation boiled over, but with the issue front and center on the world's radar, U.S. voters tag the Islamist terror group second on the president's list of priorities, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday.

Clinton's GOP opponent may accuse her of lacking foresight on the issue, and she will have to show critics she's tough and savvy on foreign policy, experts said.

The GOP is likely to use as ammunition the 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed a U.S. ambassador. The attacks happened under Clinton's watch as secretary of state.

Republicans and other critics have accused the administration of President Barack Obama of not being forthcoming with information regarding the attacks, and there remain a number of unanswered questions.

Coming out strong on foreign policy will allow Clinton to get away from being tagged simply as the country's first female candidate who has a serious shot at clinching the White House.

While her gender resonates with single women and Democrats' liberal base, Clinton will have to appeal to a much broader pool of voters if she hopes to clinch the White House in 2016, and coming out tough on foreign policy may allow her to do so.

Earlier this year, a Gallup poll found that Clinton's position as the first possible female president is her main selling point.

Nearly one in five Americans mention this historic possibility as a positive one, including 22 percent of women, 27 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds, and 30 percent of Democrats.

A Gallup analysis in 2007 also found that Americans were more likely to mention Clinton being the first woman president than any other positive factor, a report accompanying the poll found.

Still, she has not outlined a vision for the U.S., much less a specific and coherent foreign policy strategy, and critics said that while she racked up millions of flying miles as secretary of state, she played it safe and avoided making any significant decisions or taking significant action.

"I think her problem thus far is that she has not figured out how to really crystallize the vision not only for domestic policy, but for foreign policy as well," Republican strategist Ford O'Connell told Xinhua.