Chait writes, “Were the conservatives right about Bill Clinton all along? Maybe not right to set up a perjury trap so they could impeach him, but right about the Clintons’ essential nature?” Setting up that perjury trap was extremely difficult work for us. First we had to create sexual-harassment law. We also had to establish the independent counsel. . .
He also writes, “But the conservatives might have had a point about the Clintons’ character. Bill’s affair with Monica Lewinsky jeopardized the whole progressive project for momentary pleasure.” If it is any consolation for Chait, Clinton subordinated “the whole progressive project” to his own needs only because he put himself ahead of the whole country. (I seem to recall some conservatives saying that at the time.)