Obama watch: It's getting close

May tell '08 plans this week -- but not on MLK's day

Sen. Barack Obama, poised to reveal his presidential plans "very soon," said he deliberately did not choose Martin Luther King Day to make an announcement because he didn't want to draw "false parallels" to King's "heroic struggles."

"We will have an announcement very soon, but I didn't want to use this day to indicate my plans because I am humbled by what Dr. King accomplished,'' Obama (D-Ill.) said Monday at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church Cathedral in Harvey. "I don't think that, you know, whatever my political plans are, are comparable to the heroic struggles that he went through, and I don't want to draw false parallels."

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said word could come this week.

Obama hearkened to the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott that forged King's reputation as a civil rights leader.

"Whatever my political plans are, change in this country happens when the American people rise up and make change happen,'' he said. "Dr. King would be the first to acknowledge that he was riding on the shoulders of a bunch of men and women who were domestics and chefs and drivers, but who were willing to make great sacrifices."

Barackmania broke out at the church, at 14618 Lincoln in the gritty south suburb. The 3,500-seat cathedral was crammed. Some shouted "We Love You Barack!" and "Speak, Mr. President!" When he left, Obama's vehicle was blocked by a mob of people who thrust copies of his book through the window for autographs.

Obama, who has said his family has been concerned for his safety, appeared to be traveling with security. "Everybody in public life at this point has some concerns," he said, mentioning a paparazzi swimsuit photo. "Finding out that there was a photographer lurking in the bushes while I was playing on the beach with my kids is a source of concern. But that's not going to stop me from doing what I think is best for the country, and how I can best serve."

Listening to Obama, Pastor J.C. Smith couldn't help but think of King. Smith, 76, who heads Harvey's Bethlehem Temple Baptist Church, was at the historic 1955 meeting at Montgomery's Holt Street Baptist Church, where King urged a bus boycott after Rosa Parks' arrest for refusing to give her seat to a white man.

"Where Barack is at this moment, it's kind of like a new awakening, to move the people to another level,'' Smith said. "He seems to be the kind of person who can reach those at the top as well as those at the bottom, and still maintain the integrity in the middle, and that is something Dr. King had.''

Obama played to the home crowd during his appearance. Saying the U.S. is sending another $100 billion dollars to Iraq, Obama said: "We might start thinking about sending a billion dollars here to Harvey."

Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg watched from a pew. He has been accused of cronyism and nepotism, and State Police launched a probe into whether he was involved in the disappearance of a gun in a criminal case.

In the pulpit, Obama mentioned corrupt politicians, saying some officials come to believe their offices are "a place where they can help their family and their friends, instead of ... the people who elected them." He later said he was speaking in general and not about any specific politician.

Contributing: Lynn Sweet

modonnell@suntimes.com