There are those who think it will end up as Much Ado About Nothing, at least as far as the country, its political culture and its institutions of government are concerned. But Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., the eminent historian, begs to differ. A Democrat who served John F. Kennedy as a White House adviser, he sees the travail of President Clinton as an event of considerable moment. But that does not stop Washington or Washington-watchers elsewhere from trying.
Few people doubt that the events of the last year have coarsened the national political discourse.
The capital has witnessed the breakdown of long-standing codes of behavior on every side. The conduct of the independent counsel in the Lewinsky case, Kenneth W. Starr, has attracted so much opprobrium that Congress is considering allowing the Watergate-era law authorizing independent counsels to lapse. Among the news media, a ravenous appetite for scandal has developed. More salacious details about politicians have been talked about and written about than at any time in modern history, and the mainstream media have joined less well-established and more marginal outlets in the barrage. If the story of Monica and Bill and Ken and Henry has revulsed a large portion of the American people, it has turned off foreigners, too.