Edition: U.S. / Global

THE INAUGURATION: THE DEPARTING PRESIDENT; After 'Ride of My Life,' Clinton Is Sentimental

By Adam Nagourney
Published: January 21, 2001

When William Jefferson Clinton came to Washington as president-elect eight years ago this week, he transformed his journey into a sentimental extravagance: from the caravan of buses that assembled at Jefferson's old plantation in Monticello to his arrival, with fireworks, at the Lincoln Memorial.

Mr. Clinton's departure from Washington - and his presidency - this afternoon was only slightly less elaborate, from the 21-gun salute, to the crisp and elongated review of the Honor Guard, to not one but three separate hand-shaking sessions with the aides and friends who came to Andrews Air Force base. In all, it took 100 minutes from the time Mr. Clinton arrived at the farewell ceremony to the moment his Boeing 747 slipped into the clouds at 2:57 p.m. There was more rallying upon his touchdown at Kennedy International Airport.

''You see that sign there that says please don't go?'' Mr. Clinton said, gesturing at crowd just before he left Washington, D.C. ''I left the White House - but I'm still here!''

''I wish you well,'' the former president of the United States said. ''You gave me the ride of my life, and I probably gave as good as I got.''

Inevitably, the man who was known for his huge appetites showed no sign of slipping easily away from a job that his friends said he was only giving up in deference to the Constitution. He issued more than 100 pardons and commutations of sentences just before leaving office in the morning, and he filled his afternoon with vivid events that assured him a spot on television alongside President Bush. And just after Mr. Clinton reached the Oval Office for the final time as president this morning at about 10 a.m., he then spun around and walked back to the bay windows, to gaze one last time across the South Lawn.

''I just told him the three hardest words he's going to learn as an ex-president,'' Terry McAuliffe, his long-time friend, fund-raiser and choice to run the Democratic National Committee, said aboard the plane taking Mr. Clinton to his new home here this afternoon. ''Cut it out.''

Still, the reminders that Mr. Clinton was now just another former president of the United States came up abruptly. When Mr. Bush escorted Mr. Clinton to his armored limousine after the inauguration, its side door was black, plain and shiny - stripped of its presidential seal. By noon, Mr. Clinton's aides had turned in their pagers, cell phones, and hard collar-pins that had once assured them automatic clearance by the Secret Service.

Mr. Clinton's motorcade to Andrews Air Force base actually stopped for traffic lights, and the plane he flew back on was called not Air Force One, but Special Air Mission 28000, the same plane that flew Mr. Bush's father back to Texas in defeat eight years ago. When Mr. Clinton landed in New York, it was Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton who was the featured speaker, speaking far longer than Mr. Clinton.

At the rally in New York, Chelsea Clinton, who has spent almost half her life in the White House, turned to a friend and said, ''I don't even know my own phone number!'' At the new home here, reporters were waiting just outside the driveway - something that would not have been permitted when dawn broke this morning.

Saying goodbye to Mr. Clinton were many friends and aides, for whom today was yet another emotionally tearing moment in an administration that had been full of them. ''It's been a great adventure,'' said Janet Reno, the former attorney general, sitting undisturbed in a folding chair as she awaited her former boss to arrive at the Andrews hangar. ''Now I'm going to go home and sit on my front porch.''

Mr. Clinton was warm and expansive as recounted his ''bittersweet goodbye'' to the White House. ''I want all of you to know that I feel like John Podesta did,'' Mr. Clinton said, referring to his former chief of staff. As they left the Oval Office for the last time, Mr. Clinton said Mr. Podesta ''was tearing up a bit and he just said, 'We did a lot of good. We did a lot of good.' ''

Mr. Clinton stood silent as the applause rose from the crowd. ''We did a lot of good,'' the former president said.

Photo: Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, arrived in New York yesterday after the unauguration of George W. Bush. The Clintons have homes in Chappaqua and in Washington, D.C. (Keith Meyers/The New York Times