Bill Clinton on moving forward and calls on citizens to “stand up for what we think is right”

They don’t play “Hail to the Chief” when President Bill Clinton shows up anymore, but there’s an equally welcome sound he still hears all the time. “We love you!” shouts a spectator in Harlem.

Here, a walk through the streets with Clinton feels very much like a victory lap. The former president set up shop here soon after he left office. At the time he was only 54, newly unemployed, but determined to use his influence, his contacts and his know-how to make a difference as a private citizen.

He even said as much in his last address to the nation: “For years to come, I will never hold a higher office or a covenant more sacred than that of President of the United States. But there is no title I will bear more proudly than that of Citizen.”

In the 24 years since he gave that speech, Citizen Clinton has accomplished enough to fill several lifetimes – and the pages of a new book: “The Citizen: My Life After The White House” (published Tuesday by Knopf).

When asked what he was most proud of that he had done in your time outside the White House, Clinton replied: “I think what I’m most proud of is that I proved that you can make a big difference as a private citizen.”

At least he has. Through his Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative, which partners business leaders with nonprofit organizations, he has helped fund projects around the world—to name a few, a program to help fight HIV/AIDS in South Africa and a massive clean water project in Rwanda. Closer to home, his foundation helped with everything from the energy-saving retrofit of the Empire State Building in New York, to combating drug overdoses in the heart, to upgrading street lights in Los Angeles. They also helped fund construction jobs to rebuild crumbling infrastructure.

“We raised $16 billion from union pension funds to put people to work,” he said. “It was the biggest in the country at the time. That’s what I’m proud of, because I think people are happy when they’re doing things that actually make things better.”

The president also hammered the Harris-Walz ticket in the final weeks of the campaign, saying he was disappointed but not entirely surprised by the result.

I asked, “Do you think part of the problem is that America just isn’t ready for a woman president?”

“Maybe,” Clinton replied. “I think in some ways we’ve moved to the right as a reaction to all the turmoil. And I think if Hillary had been nominated in 2008, she would have gone in, just like Obama did.”

“Has the country changed?”

“Well, I think all these cultural battles that we’re fighting make it harder in some ways for a woman to run.”

“So you think it has more to do with partying than sex?”

“No,” he said. “Although I think it would probably be easier for a conservative Republican woman to win.”

“Than a Democrat woman?”

“Uh-huh. Because, I mean, that’s what Maggie Thatcher did,” Clinton said. “But I still think we’ll have a female president soon.”

“How soon? Within your lifetime?”

“Oh yes. Well, I don’t know how long I’ll live. You’re asking an old man that question!” he laughed. “I hope I’ll be there for the next one. But now it’s President Trump’s turn in the barrel. It depends on what he does and how it plays out.”

We spoke last week as the president-elect was in the process of naming his new cabinet, shaking Washington, DC and beyond.

I asked, “Is the guardrail off?”

“Well, there’s no obvious guard rail,” Clinton replied. “The Senate has shown some indigestion about some of these proposed appointments. We’ll see what happens there. You know, somewhere down the road (Trump) is going to have to think about whether, in this chapter of his life, he still believes, The most important thing is to have undisputed dominance, because that is not what a democracy is about.”

“So you’re saying maybe President Trump has changed?”

“Maybe he can. I was raised in the Baptist church. I believe in deathbed conversions! I think you can’t give it up,” Clinton said. “But I think the rest of us just have to be diligent, watch the signs and be willing to stand up for what we think is right, even if they take a piece out of our hide.”

In his book, the president writes candidly about his health problems, including his struggle with weight. But he couldn’t resist stopping into the famous soul food restaurant Sylvia’s, if only for a cup of coffee.

I asked, “If you ate here, what would you get?”

“Mid-afternoon? I wanted a piece of pie.”

“I know you talk about this in your book. Are you going to watch your diet now?”

“A lot,” Clinton said. “It’s amazing how low your metabolism gets.”

If he’s honest about his health, he’s just as open about past controversies. Clinton writes about Monica Lewinsky and applauds her recent work on bullying.

Why make a point of doing it? He said: “Because I thought I had to say something about it and I wanted to be as helpful as I could to let her turn the page. I think she should have a chance to build a life, that’s about her and the future and not, you know, being whipped into an old story.”

So while mindful of the past, Bill Clinton continues to move forward, making connections big and small, still trying — and often succeeding — in his bid to change the world.

“I don’t mind when people jump on me; I just talk to them,” he said. “And I don’t turn them all. You don’t have to turn them all, you just have to get enough.

“We just all have to loosen up and get back in the game. … There’s another thing, and I say this in the book a lot of times: We all stick together to score. You’ve been doing this for a long time. You’re one to remember on this interview compared to 15 others you have done together instead of being torn For me it is enough if I can answer yes to those three things.

“I know there are no permanent victories or defeats in politics,” Clinton said. “And I have no interest in being an armchair quarterback except to help my team perform better. And I think they have tremendous talent. So I wish them well and I’ll try to help. But in the meantime I’m just dressing up and doing what I do.”

READ AN EXCERPT: “The Citizen: My Life After The White House” by Bill Clinton

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Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Ed Givnish.