Candidates Mark Anniversary of King’s Death

FORT WAYNE, Ind. _ Politics and race again intersected on Friday, as all three presidential candidates marked the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s assassination, delivering sermon-like speeches to celebrate the life of a “modern-day Moses,” and with each calling for King’s dream of racial and economic equality to finally be realized.

Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton and John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, both attended events in Memphis, where King was killed April 4, 1968. There, Clinton proposed the creation of a Cabinet-level “poverty czar,” devoted to addressing and eventually ending poverty in the nation.

“It’s the kind of solution that Dr. King’s son, Martin (King III), has been such a passionate advocate for,” Clinton said.

McCain paid tribute to King by visiting the Lorraine Motel, where the civil rights leader was fatally shot, and speaking before the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, stating that “we are still left with a feeling of loss.” Most notably, McCain acknowledged that he was wrong to once oppose creating a federal holiday in honor of the slain civil rights leader.

“We can be slow as well to give greatness its due, a mistake I made myself long ago when I voted against a federal holiday in memory of Dr. King,” said McCain who also highlighted the need to address poverty in the nation. “I was wrong and eventually realized that, in time to give full support for a state holiday in Arizona. We can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing, and Dr. King understood this about his fellow Americans. But he knew as well that in the long term, confidence in the reasonability and good heart of America is always well-placed.”

McCain, who previously apologized for the slight before South Carolina’s January primary, has said he knew little of King and the civil rights struggle because he was a prisoner of war in Hanoi and received only sporadic news during his 5 { years’ confinement. His captors did, however, tell him and his fellow POWs when King was assassinated.

“The enemy had correctly calculated that the news from Memphis would deeply wound morale, and leave us worried and afraid for our country. Doubtless it boosted our captors’ morale, confirming their belief that America was a lost cause, and that the future belonged to them,” he said.

Separately, McCain, who has famously declined the use of Secret Service in his campaign, said in an interview with Fox News Sunday that he expects to receive protection in the coming weeks.

Sen. Barack Obama, Clinton’s rival, skipped the Memphis events, saying he had already committed to speak at Friday night’s North Dakota Democratic Party convention. Instead, he used the first 15 minutes of an hourlong town hall meeting at Wayne High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., to deliver remarks about King, who he called a “modern-day Moses.”

Obama told the crowd that King’s hopes were not just rooted in race, but were also a “struggle for economic justice” in America.

“No matter what the color of our skin, no matter what faith we practice, no matter how much money we have _ no matter whether we are sanitation workers or United States senators _ we all have a stake in one another, we are our brother’s keeper, we are our sister’s keeper, and either we go up together, or we go down together,” he said to applause and amen’s.

Later, Obama fielded several questions about crime, gun violence and the nation’s declining morality. Obama addressed them by saying government cannot replace the benefits of a strong family.

“One of the forgotten aspects of Dr. King’s legacy is that he demanded personal responsibility,” Obama said, before urging African-American fathers to not walk out on their families as his did on him.

He also criticized excessive television viewing and videogame playing by children, and he chided parents who don’t “make sure your child is home after it gets dark.”

Clinton’s call for a poverty czar is not the first time the idea has been used. During his War on Poverty, President Lyndon Johnson called Sargent Shriver his poverty czar although the post was never a cabinet-level position.

Many pundits speculated on Friday that Clinton was not looking backward with the idea but forward, mentioning the posting to create a role _ and gain an endorsement _ from former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who campaigned for the Democratic nomination before dropping his bid. He has not endorsed either Clinton or Obama.

North Carolina’s primary is May 6 and an average of four March polls there shows Obama leading by 12 percentage points.

In Indiana, which also holds its primary on May 6, Clinton is ahead of Obama by 3 points, according to the most recent statewide poll, released Thursday.

___

(Correspondent Jill Zuckman contributed to this report from Washington and Rick Pearson contributed from Chicago.)

___

(c) 2008, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

_____

PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): CAMPAIGN-OBAMA For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. 1056616