ATLANTA - Mere days before Barack Obama is set to make history as the nation's first black president, the woman who battled him for the Democratic nomination was honored by a leading civil rights organization.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. senator from New York and secretary of state designee, received the "Salute to Greatness" award at a fundraiser Saturday night for the King Center in Atlanta. The event came just before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, marking what would have been the slain civil right's leader's 80th birthday.

Clinton echoed King's theme of service and called on Americans to rally behind Obama, the man who defeated her for the Democratic nomination for the White House.

"This is an all hands on deck moment for America," Clinton said.

She praised Obama as "a young man of such enormous promise" and said his election brought King's dream within reach.

"The election of Barack Obama is a big step closer to the realization of that dream but that doesn't let us off the hook does it?" Clinton said.

She said the nation still faces challenges in providing health care and economic opportunity to all.

And she recalled being transfixed when at age 13 she heard King speak on a chilly January evening in Chicago.

Clinton was introduced Saturday night by former Atlanta mayor and United Nations ambassador Andrew Young.

He said she has worked throughout her career to fulfill King's ideals.

"She has symbolized and epitomized throughout her life the things that he spoke about and dreamed about and prophesied about," Young said.

He also called Clinton "the only product of the South" in Obama's cabinet, stemming from her years in Arkansas.

"She has lived the a majority of her life dealing with the issues of Southern racism and Southern poverty," Young said.

Clinton has enjoyed a close relationship with the black community that was tested in the presidential primary where she dueled with Obama. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, angered black voters when he compared Obama's primary win over Clinton in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson's years earlier. The comment was viewed by some as equating Barack Obama with Jackson, who many saw as unelectable.

But there were no signs of hard feelings Saturday night as Clinton was greeted warmly.

Obama has tapped the former first lady as his nominee for secretary of state.

But King Center President and Chief Executive Officer Isaac Newton Farris Jr. said he hoped Clinton would still make history as the nation's first woman president. The remark was met with applause and Clinton grinned broadly.

Chik-fil-A founder Truett Cathy was also honored by the King Center Saturday night with its corporate "Salute to Greatness" award for his philanthropic work. Cathy was in Piedmont Hospital suffering from gallbladder problems and his son, Dan Cathy accepted the award on his behalf.

Clinton said she knew quite a bit about the chain's signature chicken sandwiches.

"My husband is one of his biggest customers," she quipped.

By SHANNON McCAFFREY, Associated Press, January 17, 2009