The hardliners on the Right have accomplished their goal : Operation Lynch Mob Success - The only difference is that the target has not been "got". 12/19/98 has placed a black mark on the House ( for abuse of majority power ), not the President or the Presidency. The impeachment vote was on party lines as expected, making it officially an OLM success.
The moderate Republicans in the House were "whipped" by Tom "Crook" Delay to fall into hardline. But the beauty is that the hand grenade he threw into the House to remove Clinton through forced resignation has claimed one casualty so far - Speaker-elect Bob Livingston has resigned fearing the exposure of numerous ( sexual ) skeletons in his closet. Hustler Magazine's Larry Flynt has vowed to go after the perfidious GOPers who went after Clinton.
Last time the Republicans controlled Congress, they unleashed Joe McCarthy on the public and 40 years later, they had Ken Starr.
I don't think Clinton has to worry about the stigma of impeachment as will be perceived by the future historians. When they get into the details of the trumped up "case" and the surrounding circumstances, it is the Republican-majority, do-nothing, lame duck 105th Congress that would look grave ( & vicious & blood-thirsty ) and NOT him.
They will see it for what it is : Extremist GOPers' non-military coup d'etat.
In January of 1999, OLM ( Senate Version ) will start. Even though the Senate does not have the requisite votes (67) to convict Clinton on these EXTREMELY flimsy "charges",
the Operation Witch Trial will commence along with the degradation of the institution of
Senate.
In short, the hardline Republicans in the House have impeached a President on the following ground :
"WE DON'T LIKE HIM"
Way to transform the Legislative Branch of the government into a Parliamentary System!
Go Hypocrite GOPers Go!
Polls after impeachment :
Clinton - 73% favorable
GOP - 31% favorable
Democrats - 57% favorable