Clinton departs Washington after emotional farewell ceremony

Clinton waves Washington farewell

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Maryland (CNN) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton departed Washington on Saturday shortly after the presidency transferred to George W. Bush. Clinton attended a final goodbye ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland before he was to fly to New York.

Clinton -- accompanied by daughter Chelsea and former first lady Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- boarded a U.S. government aircraft, which was not referred to as Air Force One, a name bestowed on whichever plane is carrying a president.

Now that he is a former president, Clinton's flight to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport was dubbed by the Air Force as Special Air Mission 28000.

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Although ex-presidents traditionally make a quiet exit from Washington to leave the stage to their successors, Clinton reminisced in public during an emotional farewell ceremony.

Clinton -- with staffers, former Cabinet members, supporters and a military honor guard looking on -- described his final exit from the White House as president of the United States.

"We walked out of the Oval Office this morning ... and (White House Chief of Staff) John Podesta was tearing up and he said, 'We did a lot of good. We did a lot of good.'"

Clinton's recounting of that story drew applause and cheers.

"Now we have to go on to the next part of our lives," Clinton said. "Maybe for the first time in eight years I'll be in the driver's seat in a lot of ways I wasn't before," he said laughing. "You gave me the ride of my life and I tried to give as good as I got."

A welcoming ceremony was planned for Clinton's arrival in New York before heading to his new home in Chappaqua, New York.

Youngest ex-president since 1909

At 54, Clinton left office at the age his successor enters it, and as the youngest former president since Theodore Roosevelt, who was 50 in 1909.

Clinton is not expected to lead a reclusive life as a former commander-in-chief. He is expected to make a lucrative deal to write a book about his presidency and to agree to join the speaking circuit, making speeches that could bring around $100,000 per engagement.

He also is expected to focus on public policy issues from his presidential library in Little Rock, Arkansas.

During a January 12 news conference at the White House, Clinton said he planned to "take a couple of months to rest" after eight years as president. He also said he wanted to "keep an appropriate low profile for some time."

End notes

Before leaving the White House for the last time as president, Clinton was expected to follow tradition by leaving a note for his successor in the desk of the Oval Office.

White House press secretary Jake Siewert said Thursday that when he asked Clinton if he planned to leave a note, the president replied: "Yeah, of course." Past notes -- although confidential -- have contained words of encouragement and advice.

Clinton never disclosed what words his predecessor -- Bush's father George Bush -- left for him to ponder in 1993.

"I think we should leave it between the two of us, but it was a very generous note and a very encouraging one," Clinton told reporters three days after he took office.

Following a similar tradition, Siewert said on Thursday he would leave a note for Ari Fleischer, the incoming press secretary for the new president, but he wouldn't elaborate.

"It's very confidential," Siewert said, with an I-know-something-you-don't-know expression on his face. "It's the one secret the press secretary gets to keep from the press."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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