By John F. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 21, 2001 ; Page A22
CHAPPAQUA, N.Y., Jan. 20 -- At 6 this evening, the final motorcade of the Clinton Era dropped off the new former president at his home here. The official last day -- filled with speeches, sentimentality and, inevitably for this politician, controversy -- was over.
Actually, the last day was an indistinguishable blur from the last night and the second-to-last day. Bill Clinton pulled an all-nighter in his final hours at the White House as he brooded about last-minute pardons, watched a movie with Hillary Rodham Clinton and stayed up packing.
Come dawn, Clinton left office exactly the way everyone around him always predicted he would: causing a stir. His last executive actions this morning included extending national monument status to historic Governor's Island off Manhattan and releasing federal funds to help localities hire 10,000 more police officers. Clinton wanted that to be the big news of the day, but he made that impossible with his decision to pardon Whitewater figure Susan McDougal, along with dozens of other people famous and obscure. Policy and personal controversy, as ever with Clinton, were intertwined to the end.
Clinton spent today surrounded by people for whom this presidency will have no end, for whom Clinton will always be their president. They were there by the hundreds -- Cabinet officials, White House staff members and friends -- jammed into a hangar at Andrews Air Force Base to see Clinton receive a full military honor guard.
Despite the pomp, there were signs that his status had changed irrevocably at noon today. The motorcade to Andrews -- the weather was too inclement for a helicopter flight -- did not get the traditional police intersection control extended to a president. The military band did not play the usual "Hail to the Chief." Instead, it was "Ruffles and Flourishes."
As Clinton rose to speak, he said he was filled with relief. "When you leave the White House, you wonder if you'll ever draw a crowd again," he said.
In the crowd, someone was waving a sign saying, "Please don't go." Clinton said, "I left the White House, but I'm still here." And the crowd cheered.
Then Clinton turned poignant. All day long, he had told supporters not to feel bad about his presidency coming to an end. "We should not be sad today," he said. "We should feel grateful and happy." Government service, he said, is like life generally: "It is passing, it has seasons, it is a process, not a destination."
Addressing people who came to work for his White House because they believed in his policies, he said: "You don't have to be in a position of power in government to advance these causes."
But he made special mention of someone who does still have government power: his wife, now the junior U.S. senator from New York. Clinton said Hillary Clinton now "will fill the oversight function of the United States Senate," which may not exactly be how Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) thinks of her role.
With the broadcast of his weekly radio address less than two hours before he left office, and two public speeches shortly after leaving it, Clinton gave up power with a cascade of words unprecedented in the modern presidency. At Andrews, he singled out former senator Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) for his friendship and public service.
After nearly an hour of shaking hands, he and his wife and daughter Chelsea walked across the tarmac to the familiar blue plane with a now unfamiliar name. The 747 was not Air Force One this time; it's called that only when a president is on board. Instead, the flight to Kennedy Airport in New York was called Special Air Mission 2800, so named because of the tail number of the plane.
On board the great plane was a cast of loyal staff members and old friends, many of whom had intersected at some point with the scandals and controversies of the past eight years.
The travel manifest included lawyer and presidential confidant Vernon E. Jordan Jr., who, like Clinton, came under scrutiny in the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal. Also on board was longtime Clinton friend and Hollywood producer Harry Thomason, who stayed overnight at the White House on Friday. In 1993, Thomason became ensnared in the controversy over the firing of the White House travel office staff.
The others traveling with Clinton included his White House chief of staff, John D. Podesta, deputy chief of staff Steve Ricchetti, national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, longtime Clinton aide Bruce Lindsey, former White House lawyer Cheryl Mills and presidential secretaries Betty Currie and Nancy Hernreich.
A number of former Cabinet officials stood in line to wish Clinton farewell. They included former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright, former Treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers and former transportation secretary Rodney E. Slater.
In the hangar, the audience included such senior aides as domestic policy adviser Bruce Reed, national economic adviser Gene Sperling and communications director Donald Baer.
Hillary Clinton did not speak at the Andrews ceremony, but the senator did introduce her husband at the next event, a somewhat smaller rally inside a TWA hangar at Kennedy Airport. "For eight years, my husband has given his all to this country," she said.
From the airport, the Clinton motorcade proceeded here, stopping briefly at a fire station.
Later, there was a glimpse of how new the life awaiting the former first family in their adopted state will be. Chelsea Clinton, greeting a friend, confessed: "I don't even know my phone number."
Democratic political operative Terence McAuliffe, one of the former president's best friends, who spent the last night at the White House with him, said Clinton may not realize the stark transition that awaits him in other parts of his life. Clinton, he said, is about to become familiar with three words -- "putt it out" -- an indication that people will no longer be willing to extend leniency on the golf course to him, as a former president. This morning, shortly before leaving for the Capitol, the outgoing president and first lady began swaying to the music when a pianist performing for the coffee they held for incoming President Bush began playing "Our Love Is Here to Stay."
Clinton left office convinced that the achievements of his presidency outshine the controversies and personal setbacks -- a conclusion that polls suggest is supported by a majority of the public. In his Andrews remarks, Clinton described walking out of the Oval Office for the last time with Podesta, a famously tough-minded aide who on this occasion was shedding a tear. Podesta, Clinton said, put his arm around him and said: "We did a lot of good, we did a lot of good."
