Clintons Say Goodby as Arkansas Says Godspeed

With a few final tears and sentimental farewells, President-elect Bill Clinton finished packing 14 years of memories Saturday, then climbed aboard a private jet to begin the final leg of what has been a long, often arduous journey from the Arkansas governor’s mansion to the White House.

“You know as I do, the road ahead is difficult, and there will be uncertainties and setbacks along the way, but I am confident that together we will do this work,” a clearly ebullient, yet nostalgic, Clinton told a crowd of several thousand well-wishers who bade him, his wife, Hillary, and their daughter, Chelsea, an enthusiastic farewell in an airport hangar at Little Rock Regional Airport.

The bash sent the Clintons and their entourage off to Charlottesville, Va., where the President-elect, joined by Vice President-elect Al Gore, will visit Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello early today, then embark on their historic 120-mile bus trip to Washington to begin the first of four days of inaugural celebration that will include his swearing in Wednesday as the 41st President of the United States.

Arriving in Charlottesville shortly after 8:30 p.m., Clinton seemed to strike a theme of his presidency, saying: “We want this inauguration to start an Administration in the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, who said that in every generation a democracy would have to renew itself.”

The Clintons began their journey about 4:45 p.m., arriving at the airport hangar in Little Rock to the strains of Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” and “Love Me Tender.” They entered the cavernous building to find it festooned with signs bearing such parting messages as: “Good Luck Bill, Hillary and Chelsea. Come Back Soon.”

The threesome stepped up to a makeshift podium, where Clinton delivered a three-minute speech--demonstrating unprecedented brevity for the loquacious President-elect. While clearly eager to get on with the tasks that lay ahead, he expressed deep regret about leaving his beloved home of Little Rock, saying to his friends and supporters: “You’ll always be with me.” In one sharply poignant moment, he recalled the departure of another President-elect--Abraham Lincoln--from his home in Illinois 132 years ago.

“Then he did not know if he would ever return to the people who had nourished and raised him and whom he loved. As it turned out, he came home again only to be buried,” said Clinton.

Clearly aware of the monumental challenge that lay before him, he responded to one sign that read: “It’s Not a Job; It’s an Adventure” by saying: “Just like all adventures, there will be some harrowing moments. But we can do it.” And he acknowledged the unexpected twists and turns that had characterized his sometimes rocky transition. “This has not been an easy--even though it’s been a joyful--two months.”

Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey presented Clinton with several gifts, among them a framed photograph of the governor’s mansion, a City of Little Rock flag and a wooden plaque for his desk in the Oval Office. It bore an inscription from a Fleetwood Mac song that had became a sort of campaign theme: “Don’t Stop Thinkin’ About Tomorrow.”

Hillary, with brevity to match her husband’s but clearly touched by the outpouring of affection, expressed thanks to the well-wishers, promising: “We will try as hard as we can to make a better country.”

Chelsea, who has lived all her life in Arkansas, stood uncomfortably at her parents’ side throughout the remarks and presentations, crying as she hugged a friend before boarding the plane.

Although many of his final hours in Little Rock were consumed by the crises in Iraq and Haiti, Clinton has devoted much of the remaining time to preparing his inaugural address--perhaps the single most important words a President will speak. Aides say that, in keeping with what has become a pattern, he will not use a single speech writer, choosing instead to lace together ideas from a variety of advisers.

Saturday morning, Clinton said he remained troubled by some rough spots. “Most of it is easy. There are two or three things I’m having trouble figuring out how I want to say.”

The President-elect and his family devoted the hours that remained to gathering their belongings and making final farewell visits to the dozens of Arkansas friends he has collected in his years as governor.

In a pointedly sentimental moment Saturday afternoon, Clinton jogged to the banks of the Arkansas River, climbed down a 50-foot embankment under a railroad bridge and, as nervous Secret Service agents looked on, opened a shoe box and released Chelsea’s pet frog.

The frog, Jeff, had been part of a school project, the President-elect explained after it hopped away. “She decided to leave it here where it can live a normal life.”

Chelsea spent her last day at Mann Magnet Junior High School on Friday. In Washington, where her parents have worried about whether she herself can live a normal life, the eighth-grader will attend the Sidwell Friends School, a private school.

On his last daily jog along the streets of Little Rock, Clinton said goodby to workers at the McDonald’s where he has often stopped for decaffeinated coffee and visited neighbors near the governor’s mansion. “We’re going to miss you,” said a McDonald’s employee when the President-elect made his last stop there after a workout at the downtown YMCA.

More than once, tears were evident during the President-elect’s extended leave-taking, welling up even during moments that, on the surface, seemed less than heart-wrenching.

Clinton wiped them away, for instance, in a public ceremony Thursday as he named 57 people to his White House staff, including some longtime Arkansas friends.

He has spoken often in recent days of his regrets at leaving his comfortable, semi-private life and many friends in Arkansas. At times he even seemed reluctant to move, despite his long-nurtured ambition to be Pesident.

“I have deep roots here. But I don’t think it’s so bad for the American people to have a President who hates to leave his home,” he said in an ABC-TV interview broadcast Thursday night. “I think it’s probably good.”

By Saturday, however, Clinton seemed to have come to terms with his impending departure. “I’ve worked through it,” he said in answer to a question about whether he has mixed feelings about leaving. “I’m ready to go, actually eager.”

Just after noon Saturday, Clinton was seen wandering around the mansion in blue jeans, sweat shirt and Georgetown University baseball cap, overseeing the final loading of boxes onto the moving van.

Clinton was governor in 1978 to 1981, then, after a defeat and reelection, from 1983 until last year. The family has lived in the white-columned brick mansion in central Little Rock for 12 of the last 14 years.

Packers and movers from the Merchants Transfer & Warehouse Co. have been busy at the mansion for two weeks. Much of the mansion’s furniture belongs to the state of Arkansas, but the workers have packed some of the Clintons’ personal furnishings, as well as 20 years of the Clintons’ clothes, books, records, tableware and other personal effects into a 48-foot trailer.

The governor’s mansion is not large and has barely enough room to accommodate overnight guests. But the job of packing was slow, in part because of Hillary Clinton’s desire to be as systematic as possible.

The packers and Clinton aides compiled a computerized list showing precisely which belongings went into which cartons. Some boxes are to go to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., others to a storage warehouse in Maryland. The system is intended to enable the Clintons to quickly pull out of storage any belongings they suddenly need.

The family wanted to spend Friday night at the mansion, so their beds were packed last, on Saturday.

Today, Clinton is scheduled to arrive in the city that will be his new home. Aides remain in suspense about whether he will get there in time for the “Bells of Hope” bell-ringing ceremony, which is scheduled to take place just after 6 p.m. at the Lady Bird Johnson Circle on the Virginia shore of the Potomac.

Clinton’s tardiness is legendary. And during the campaign he often ran several hours behind schedule when he went on bus trips, which offer unlimited opportunities for flesh-pressing and chatter.

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