The day of the big Senate Jury swearing in, I was listening to NPR. Lots of "everyman" segments, folks spouting off about how Bill Clinton is innocent or evil or somewhere in-between. The vehemence of the anti-Clinton views, as always, astonished me. For years (since 1992, anyway), I've been trying to figure out why a certain segment of the population (mostly well-off white guys and their families) hate Bill and Hillary Clinton. Or Billary, as certain folks like to call the first couple.

So as I'm listening, the reporter comes across two historians, guys doing what historians do best: attending a conference. And they agreed: The impeachment wasn't so much about hummers as it was about a changing of the generational guard. That the old generation was the last to be governed by a predominantly white male power structure, and a few folks are nervous about our increasingly multicultural society. Old against young, they said, adding that the young invariably beat the old. It's a matter of energy and of numbers.

And so, the answer I've been looking for is the one I had all along: The folks now in power are afraid of losing it. When I speak of power, of course, I'm using that term broadly. Country clubs. Neighborhoods. Geez, even families are being invaded by the dread "other". George Bush, a former president and solid member of the ruling elite, has grandchildren who are half hispanic (or all hispanic, since that "race" is a composite to begin with, and like my hispanic Spanish teacher in high school used to say, "We're all caucasians here"). Black folks are moving into rich neighborhoods, and women are entering the boardroom. Glass ceilings, it turns out, were made to be broken.

Although Hillary Clinton's favorable numbers among the general public are at an all-time high, there is still a solid 30 percent of folks out there who view her as Satan's bride (I've actually heard that phrase used on the radio before, and I think it is intended as a slight against her, not her spouse). By all accounts, she is a highly intelligent (certainly more so than her husband), personable woman who is successful at almost anything she touches. If she had wanted to make the sacrifices necessary to be president, I don't doubt that she would have been in the running. But where as Eleanor Roosevelt was considered an anomaly and Rosalyn Carter something of a debutante-savant, more and more folks are beginning to realize that women are finally taking their place as equal members of society.

The same goes for so-called "minorities", people who aren't of the WASP persuasion. Well, the WASPs have fallen, and soon even all white folks in the United States won't be able to band together and call themselves a majority. Every week, a movie directed by a female, black, hispanic or Asian director debuts. Minority-owned record labels are flourishing. And minority and woman-owned ventures are beginning to spring up all over the business world. Is there still prejudice? Are there still people who want to keep "others" out of the marketplace? Sure. But look at it this way: Forty years ago, Bo Diddley signed away millions of dollars in publishing for a brand new car. He and a number of early rock and roll stars, black and white, didn't know any better, and they got taken by venal pricks. Today, guys like Master P and Ice Cube are taking care of business all by themselves. Both own labels, and Ice Cube also dabbles in movies and other forms of entertainment. Master P, having made his fortune, is now playing basketball for the Fort Wayne, Ind., Continental Basketball League team.

Stories like that scare some folks in the current power structure. This fear is caused by ignorance, and that fear translates into hatred. Right now, the poster boy for this multiculti society is our president. And he's being tarred and feathered for the crime of representing the future by people who are scared of anything that doesn't resemble the past.

Living in fear sucks. It only engenders more fear and generally makes a person miserable. The only way out of that morass is to accept reality and embrace all the wonderful colors, shapes and sizes of the future. Something a significant portion of our populace seem unwilling to do.

Ah well. At least I understand now. This pathological hatred of the Clintons is as simple as I once figured. I just wish I had the cure.

Jon Worley has a pathological hatred of standing still.