How has the Watergate scandal had an effect on the American government?

I think people in Congress, but also in the general
public, toss the word "impeachment" around much more lightly since Watergate.  Clinton
was impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate for things much more minor in
terms of the law than what Nixon did.  Many historians and political scientists consider
the Clinton trial more of a vendetta by the opposing party that would not have been
possible before Nixon's scandals.

Even today, you hear the
word impeachment tossed around about President Obama, without any specific accusations
of law breaking, and in the 1960s, for example, that would not have been politically
possible as the popular backlash against such a move would have prevented anyone from
trying it.

I also think that since Watergate there has been
a continual power struggle between the legislature and the executive over executive
power.  9/11 allowed President Bush to be much more aggressive and powerful than he
would have been otherwise because of this struggle.