Clinton makes last trip as president

President Clinton took his last presidential trip last night (the early hours of Thursday morning Irish time), returning to his…

President Clinton took his last presidential trip last night (the early hours of Thursday morning Irish time), returning to his home state to give a nostalgic thanks.

"I will leave office at noon on the 20th amazingly grateful that somehow the mystery of this great democracy gave me the chance to go from a little boy on South Hervey St. in Hope, Arkansas to the White House," Clinton said in a speech to a joint session of the Arkansas legislature, where had been sworn in five times as governor.

While Mr Clinton went back to Arkansas on Air Force One, another plane brought President-elect Mr George W. Bush to Washington from Texas for his inauguration Saturday.

President Clinton said he will leave office "more idealistic than I was when I took the oath of office eight years before, largely because it worked out the way the way I thought it would based on what I learned and how I lived here."

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A new ABC/Washington Postpoll showed Mr Clinton was ending his term with a 65 per cent job approval rating, close to the level he achieved when he first took office eight years ago, and one percentage point better than former President Ronald Reagan's rating when he returned to California in 1989.

But the poll showed that 77 percent of Americans believed Clinton was neither honest nor trustworthy.

Mr Clinton's 55-minute speech in some ways represented the State of the Union address he will not be giving this year.

He referred to policy successes of his administration and made proposals in areas "where I hope our country will continue to move forward."

Mr Clinton called for voting-system reforms in the wake of the Florida recount in last year's presidential election. "We need to look at the mechanics of voting," he said.

Clinton also saluted first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was not there and said she would use political skills honed in Arkansas in her job as a U.S. senator from New York. "I'm so proud of her I could pop," he said.

The Clintons plan to live in New York, but will have his presidential library in Arkansas, where he plans to keep an apartment.

Reuters