Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said word on White House run could come "this week."

We will have an announcement very soon, said Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Monday.

Obama will make his 2008 White House run official any day now. Im told by the Obama camp: standby.

“Could be as early as this week,” said Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs.

Obama spoke at a Dr. Martin Luther King Day memorial in Harvey, a south suburban Chicago suburb and then took questions from reporters.

There was never a plan for Obama to announce for president on the day the nation honored the King legacy. Whatever is ahead for Obama, he was concerned that people would draw false parallels between himself and King if he talked about his political future on Monday.

Obamas own words:

We will have an announcement very soon but I didnt want to use this day to indicate my plans because I am humbled by what Dr. King accomplished.

And I dont think that-you know-whatever my political plans are are comparable to the heroic struggles that he went through and I dont want to draw false parallels.