Barack Obama moved Tuesday to paint the 2008 presidential election in stark terms of rich vs. poor, and fat cats vs. struggling families.

In a 15-minute speech before 2,700 screaming supporters at McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Obama unveiled a pair of new proposals aimed at easing bankruptcy laws for military families and for seniors.

Mike Morris/mmorris@ajc.com

Sharon Pimpton (orange cap) said she hopes Obama will enable people to have homes and jobs.

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The Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting blasted his Republican opponent, U.S. Sen. John McCain, for putting the desires of banks and credit card companies ahead of the needs of working Americans.

"While John McCain is an honorable man, and I respect and admire his service to our country, John McCain has been part of the problem, not part of the solution," Obama said.

Toward the end of his remarks, Obama vowed to protect military families "who are being stretched thin because of repeated moves and long deployments."

Families, he said, who "are being preyed upon by predatory lenders. If you're protecting America, America should be protecting you from unfair bankruptcy laws."

He said he would create a "fast-track bankruptcy practice" for military families, which would ease restrictions against declaring bankruptcy, eliminate "unnecessary" paperwork and "let them keep a greater share of the value of their home."

Obama said he would work to help seniors keep their homes when emerging from bankruptcy. Their homes, he said, "are the cornerstones of a secure retirement," and also promised a larger homestead exemption for seniors.

Through the discussion, Obama referred to his plans not as "liberal," or "populist," but as "progressive," a distinction his opponents have dismissed.

Obama has built an economic plan that, in theory, should appeal to rural whites and blacks who are struggling in a changing economy.

In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution following the event Tuesday, Obama said that's not why he's doing it.

"It's not so much tailored toward a particular electorate as it is my sincere assessment of what's happened in our economy," he said.

Plus, he added, the mortgage and credit crisis facing the country has seen that "pain trickles up," hurting companies and individuals to reaped the rewards of a questionable decade of banking.

"Our economy has gotten out of balance," he said. "The American people don't resent wealth, they want to be rich. America has historically rewarded innovation and accomplishment and free enterprise, and I want to ensure we continue to do that."

But Obama's critics have painted him as not just wanting to raise taxes on upper-income earners but on those lower-income individuals he claims to want to help.

Obama addressed that criticism head on during Tuesday's town hall. Specifically, he acknowledged the GOP claims that his own tax proposal would raise rates on those who make as little as $32,000 a year.

Not true, Obama said.

"If you are a family making $250,000 or less, we will not raise your taxes," he said. "Not your income tax. Not your payroll tax, not your capital gains tax. Not any tax. We will cut your taxes. So I'm happy to have a debate about taxes with John McCain."

And the fight about taxes was an apt one given the location: Cobb County, one of the reddest counties in a traditionally rock-ribbed Republican state.

While the demographics of this part of Cobb County are changing, the area went overwhelmingly for George W. Bush in 2004. The three local voting precincts went 55 percent, 55 percent and 66 percent for Bush over Democrat John Kerry.

Cobb County Commissioner Sam Olens, a Republican, was surprised Obama visited his county, which he called one of the most Republican in the state.

"He's here to show he wants a strong hold in the South. I think this will be time that wasn't well spent for the senator," he said.

Olens, who heads his county's Metropolitan Planning Organization, is concerned Obama will bring additional federal regulation that will complicate approval for projects he oversees.

"When we promise our residents transportation projects, we need them delivered on a timely basis. I need less regulation rather than more. The regulatory burdens that come with federal dollars sometimes add up to more than those that are received," he said.

However, when asked what in McCain's economic policy he found most promising, Olens said:

"I don't think either [candidate] has a history with economic policies. But McCain's been a stalwart opponent to ear-marking for thousands of projects, and he's for lower taxes. I think of him as a man who's against government waste."

Staff writer Jose Pagliery contributed to this report.