Officially, the impeachment ordeal of U.S. President Bill Clinton is over. Last Friday, the Senate -- in two bipartisan votes -- rejected both charges against the president. By a vote of 55 to 45, they threw out the first article of impeachment that alleged Mr. Clinton committed perjury when testifying to a grand jury regarding the particulars of his affair with Ms. Monica Lewinsky. The votes were split -- 50 to 50 -- on the second charge of obstruction of justice. Mr. Clinton followed his acquittal with a speech that called for reconciliation. Although the nation and the world are relieved the impeachment process is over, its effects are sure to linger in American politics. The system survived, but it will be years before the stench vanishes.

The verdict had been virtually assured before the Senate even began its deliberations. That does not mean that the men and women of that institution have not judged Mr. Clinton harshly. Even members of the president's own party have been scathing in their condemnations. But they were unwilling to concede that those misjudgments reached the threshold set by the writers of the U.S. Constitution for requiring the removal of the president.

So what is there to show after 13 grim and angry months? Optimists conclude that the system worked. To them, the impeachment process revealed a resilient political system capable of rising to the difficult and divisive task of policing itself without breaking down. Throughout this long ordeal, the U.S. economy continued its stunning growth, the government functioned and Mr. Clinton, although hobbled by the ball and chain of the ongoing investigation, was still able to assert the authority of his office.