I had already voted in the 1996 election by then, but the impeachment of President Bill Clinton just over two years later was one of my first moments of real political consciousness.

Here are a few of the things I remember: Conservatives still raging at Clinton’s re-election and the missed opportunity of 1996; clamoring for their party’s possibly suicidal impeachment push, on grounds that were always pretty flimsy and seemed like a pretext.