Clinton Makes Most of 1st Day as Ex-President

Former President Clinton slept late Sunday on his first day out of office, skipped the morning newspapers and headed out for breakfast, where he was greeted by chants of “Eight more years.”

Looking relaxed and cheerful, Clinton emerged late in the morning for a short trip to a delicatessen near the family’s suburban home where he and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and daughter, Chelsea, moved after leaving Washington on Saturday.

But in vintage style for a man considered by friends and foe alike to be the consummate politician, his foray for coffee and an egg sandwich quickly became a celebrity event, with many trappings of a campaign stop.

Clinton shook hands, signed autographs, greeted babies and made small talk with supporters who crowded the deli and rushed to greet him on the sidewalk outside.

He grinned as a small group broke into a chant of “Eight more years! Eight more years!”

“It’s nice to go when some people still want you to stay,” Clinton said.

The newly former president said he wanted to spend the next week making plans and, describing himself as tired, said he would be sleeping a lot.

“I’m going to work real hard on the house and hard on kind of planning the future, figuring out what to do about writing a book and things like that,” he said.

Then, he said, when the Senate takes a recess next month, he and New York’s junior senator hope to take a vacation.

The Clintons awoke to several inches of fresh snow at the picturesque Dutch colonial house they bought here in late 1999, when the former first lady was running against Republican Rick Lazio for the Senate seat.

But with the view of much of the house blocked by a tall fence and the property heavily guarded by Secret Service personnel, it was unclear who shoveled the walks or took former first dog Buddy out for a morning romp.

“So far it’s been wonderful,” Clinton said of his first morning in eight years not living in the White House. “I slept late and put up clothes and books and tried to get organized. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

He said he did not read the morning newspapers. Nor, he said, did he watch the morning political TV talk shows, “but I never do.”

Wearing faded jeans and a pale yellow fleece pullover, Clinton was driven to the deli by the Secret Service with brother-in-law Hugh Rodham, while Chelsea Clinton was driven separately and Sen. Clinton stayed behind unpacking, he said.

At the end of the Clintons’ street, a well-wisher tacked up a sign reading, “Thank you, Mr. President. Welcome home too.”

Clinton’s greetings from local residents were warm ones, and missing were the Chappaqua residents who gripe publicly about the tumult his presence creates in the small town.

Abhay Talsania, an investment banker who lives nearby, exchanged a few words with the former president as he asked for--and got--Clinton’s autograph.

“I told him that Chappaqua is Clinton country, and I told him I’m sorry he was limited to two terms,” Talsania said. “He thanked me.”

Sandra Nuffer, another neighbor, said she told Clinton she wished he could still be president.

“It’s nice that they’ve chosen Chappaqua for their home,” she said.