By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve clearly telegraphed a March interest rate hike after its meeting this week but the pace of what follows may remain clouded as officials wait to see how inflation, the coronavirus pandemic, and the economy overall react in coming months. In that environment, former Fed officials said, it may be hard – even unwise – for the Fed to tie itself to the sort of forward-looking promises employed in the past to communicate its plans, with words like “gradual” being used in Fed policy statements to relay expectations of hikes every quar…