Marketing a mistake: Monica Lewinsky seeks to tell all but it grows old

Hot on the heels of former President Bill Clinton's triumphant speech at the Democratic National Convention, another holdover from the 1990s is planning a big rollout, too.

Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky is reportedly shopping a $12 million tell-all about her affair with the 42nd president. Several publishers have expressed interest in the memoir. Ms. Lewinsky is expected to make public the letters she wrote to Mr. Clinton at the time along with details of their White House assignations not previously known.

The sex scandal that embroiled the White House led to Mr. Clinton's impeachment after he lied to a grand jury about his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky. The final years of Mr. Clinton's second term were painful for his presidency, his family, Ms. Lewinsky and the American people.

Mr. Clinton left the White House with a tarnished moral legacy, but a relatively good economic record. Though it is difficult for many who cheered his speech at the recent Democratic National Convention to remember, Mr. Clinton was a deeply divisive figure when he left the White House. Even Vice President Al Gore put distance between himself and his former boss when he made his unsuccessful run for president against George W. Bush in 2000.

Since then, Mr. Clinton has dramatically rehabilitated his reputation by becoming a respected elder statesman and founder of the Clinton Global Initiative. His wife, Hillary Clinton's is President Barack Obama's secretary of state and is already the presumptive frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016.

Meanwhile, Ms. Lewinsky faded into obscurity after a failed career in journalism and as CEO of her own handbag company. She fled the notoriety of America for obscurity in England where she completed a master's degree at the London School of Economics.

Despite a world class education, Ms. Lewinsky, 39, hasn't been able to land a job possibly because there is a stigma attached to her name. Her decision to exploit her notoriety for $12 million is understandable, but no less tawdry. Spilling the details of her affair with the popular ex-president won't make her look more sympathetic, especially since it will be for cold cash. Ms. Lewinsky would be better off if the country were allowed to gradually forget the details of the biggest mistake of her -- and Mr. Clinton's -- life.

Her last shot at middle age dignity is slipping away.