It usually takes ten years for something to start to become History. Well the Ten year marker is rolling over on the whole Lewinsky Mess and that means to some degree the Clinton Impeachment is joining the ranks of human history.
How is it treated in the first histories? Well take a look.
The impeachment is portrayed in the context of his two-term tenure, a milestone event, but not one that overshadows how Clinton handled the economy, crime and health care.
The most commonly used texts give straightforward recaps of Clinton's toughest days, with some flavor of how it affected the nation. Absent are any the lurid details of his relationship with Monica Lewinksy that spiced up daily news reports and late-night talk shows as the scandal and impeachment played out in 1998 and early 1999.
It is still I think a bit early to really take this subject to the breast of the History text books and it seems I am not alone in that either.
"This is very difficult for everybody, because it's so fresh," said Gilbert Sewall, director of the American Textbook Council, an independent research group that reviews history texts used in schools. "It's easier to nail down history like the transcontinental railroad. With Clinton, you're dealing with material that has by no means been settled."
I think we’ll probably have to wait another 4 years or so for the real histories of the Clinton years and some of their messes to get written. So that will make a 2008 election of Hillary Clinton more interesting if she some how does the impossible.
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