SSL/HTTPS admin and the redirect error

I’ve been trying to add secure login and admin to by blog via HTTPS and have been getting a redirect error no matter which method I try. I’ve tried the official methods (FORCE_SSL_LOGIN and FORCE_SSL_ADMIN) and plugins (wordpress-https) and both result in the same thing. I can force https for a page by adding the “s” in the address bar, but when I click another link, it sends me to the unsecured version.

I’d like to secure login and admin, but would like to leave the rest of the site unsecured (it’s just a regular blog). Any advice?

From my many searches, I’ve noticed this seems to be a common problem, which leads me to wonder why it’s not fixed yet? Is there something about WordPress that hates SSL? If so, why does WordPress.com not have any issues with it?