Clintonophobia!

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THE TUNE OVER THE RADIO IN CHICAgo was familiar: the Doobie Brothers' Black Water from back in 1975. The lyrics, however, were a bit more current:

Oh Whitewater,

Keep stonewallin'

Bill and Hillary

Just keep on lyin' to me

When talk-show host Don Wade played the song last week, congratulatory calls flooded the station. Self-congratulatory calls, really. The parody, a compilation of lyrics sent in by listeners from 38 states, is just the latest artifact in a "We loathe Bill and Hill" movement that spews out everything from bumper stickers to wait-till-'96 support groups. Whitewater has thrown plenty of fuel onto this low-burning but widespread fire. The White House's admission that Hillary made a profit of nearly $100,000 on a $1,000 investment only further stimulates the Clintonophobes' bile. Indeed, in Wade's compilation:

If they indict, we don't care

Don't make no difference to us,

Still got those sweet cattle futures back home.

Yeah, we can make another hundred grand,

With just a few bucks down . . .

Just how many people don't like Clinton, no matter what he does? Around 25% to 30% of the population, a range that has remained steady since the beginning of his presidency in 1993. Pollsters call those statistics "high negatives," and they appear to be impossible to overcome. (Clinton's general approval ratings have climbed recently, rising to 59%, according to the Los Angeles Times.) Republicans, as expected, make up the bulk of Clinton haters. But apart from obvious partisans, the group includes the Christian right and apolitical citizens who just don't like the cut of the President's jaw. In fact, say pollsters, some of the most intensely negative reactions to Clinton come from Americans who are his generational peers. According to Democratic pollster Michael McKeon, these are struggling and rebellious types who don't like what Clinton represents: high-achieving, highly educated fellow boomers who got ahead in life and left them behind. "They're guys who didn't like him way back when, when he was in the honor society in high school and they were working at McDonald's. He was part of everything they hated." Says conservative pollster John McLaughlin (no relation to the pundit): "He really polarizes baby boomers. If they don't like him, they see him as a peer they * never really liked. It's his own generation that feels about him in personal terms."

One of those peers is Bill Reishtein, 41, a Chicago ad executive, who says Clinton is "betraying a generation." Adds Reishtein, who opposed the Vietnam War: "I consider him a Richard Nixon without perspiration. Clinton has such strong communications skills, it's almost worse." Talk-show host Wade says he knows what makes his listeners' blood boil. "Clinton has this inability to tell the whole truth. He knows how to skate the issue -- 'I didn't break any laws, I didn't inhale' -- through rhetoric."