Byline: RONALD BROWNSTEIN
Who would have thought Newt Gingrich would lose his job before Bill Clinton did? To call it ironic is to slight the true reversal of fortune. Gingrich was not only Clinton's rival, he was his shadow. Both were hyperarticulate, visionary and undisciplined. However imperfectly, Clinton embodied the baby boomers who embraced the cultural tumult of the 1960s; Gingrich embodied those who stood apart. Each man saw himself as the fulcrum of a new majority in American politics. Gingrich rose as Clinton fell, and vice versa.
In that way, Gingrich's demise underscored with unambiguous clarity the most important message of last week's election. Barring some jaw-dropping (and incontrovertibly proven) new allegation, you can now put a sheet on the effort to force Clinton from office. Impeachment is a dead man walking.
Clinton is surviving and Gingrich is departing largely because the President understands …
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