In light of the conclusion of the Senate trial of the president, the editors of THE WEEKLY STANDARD asked 22 writers, thinkers, and political actors the following questions: “President William Jefferson Clinton has been impeached and acquitted. What have we learned? What should we do now?”

BILL CLINTON, the man who didn’t inhale, and didn’t consummate his relationship with the White House intern, may finally have gotten the punishment due him: He has been half, but not quite, impeached. That is, he has been impeached, but not convicted, as the case against him was strong, but not airtight. Of course, he has only been half a president, as he is not respected as an authority and has never been able to lead. He may cherish the illusion of having escaped scot-free from the fracas, but a more fitting simile is that voiced by a Democratic consultant: a car crash, where all walked away from the scene, still alive, but bleeding and staggering. He will stay on for two years, our half-guilty half-president, with his authority gone, not that he will ever miss it. And he will always — now and later — be a joke.