Monica Lewinsky is back. But why?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

With a much-ballyhooed "Exclusive" in Vanity Fair, the narcissistically-titled "Shame and Survival," Monica Lewinsky has returned:

Monica Lewinsky is taking to the pages of Vanity Fair to address her affair with former President Bill Clinton, writing that she avoided the spotlight for fear of becoming an issue during Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign, but adding that the time has come to stop "tiptoeing around my past — and other people's futures."

"I remained virtually reclusive, despite being inundated with press requests. I put off announcing several media projects in 2012 until after the election," Lewinsky, 40, writes in the magazine's upcoming June issue, according to a press release Tuesday. "And recently I've found myself gun-shy yet again, fearful of 'becoming an issue' should [Hillary Clinton] decide to ramp up her campaign. But should I put my life on hold for another 8 to 10 years?"

Lewinsky adds that her planned media projects fell through and also denies reports that she had secured a $12 million tell-all book deal.

Look, I have nothing against Lewinsky. While her relationship with President Clinton may have been consensual, as she claims, what he did was detestable given not just his position but specifically his position in relation to her. (Him: president. Her: intern. You really think she had much of a choice in the matter? You really think power, and specifically massive power inequality, had nothing to do with it?) And I hated him for it.

Which is to say, I don't really blame her for what happened, and she seems to have a decent head on her shoulders, even if her judgment back then was, well, lacking. I wish her well.

But why come forward now? It's not just that she risks "becoming an issue," it's that the point of her return isn't clear. To tell her story now that she's a more mature person? Sure, okay, I'll give her that. Maybe she wants closure. Maybe she wants to move on. Again, fine. I just hope she's able to get what she needs without her return being dragged out by media, and many in the bloodsucking political class trying to make a point of her, eager to capitalize on the salaciousness of her past.

But therein lies the problem. Whatever she wants will be overwhelmed by what the media want, and what users and abusers of her story on all sides want -- and in the end the question will be whether it was worth it for her or not, whether this return to fame, however short-lived, will somehow allow her to set the record straight and move on.

Somehow I doubt it.

(Please note: I'm giving Lewinsky the benefit of the doubt as I write this tonight. If she's just doing this to get her name back in the news so as to cash in now that her various other projects have failed, I take much of it back. Not that she won't be used by the media and her various detractors regardless, but it's different if she's asking for it.)