Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday painted 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 proposals aimed at easing bankruptcy laws for military families and for seniors.

The Democratic presidential candidate, making his first visit to Georgia since claiming the nomination in June, blasted his Republican opponent, 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.

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 that 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 also work to help seniors keep their homes when emerging from bankruptcy. Their homes, he said, "are the cornerstones of a secure retirement."

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 who reaped the rewards of a questionable decade of banking practices.

"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."

He denied GOP claims that, despite his statements about helping families, his tax proposal would raise rates on those who make as little as $32,000 a year.

"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."

Obama also tackled another Republican criticism: that he's a flip-flopper. He said, for example, that it wasn't "contradictory" for him to endorse last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared firearm ownership an individual right.

"I also recognize that we need to make sure we have decent controls over the use of illegal firearms in our country," he said.

On the war in Iraq, Obama said anyone who tries to say his position has changed "hasn't been listening."

He has, he said, consistently argued that "once we were in [Iraq], we had to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in," adding that he has called for a "phased withdrawal, a phased redeployment."

In going to Powder Springs, Obama was venturing into Cobb County —- one of the reddest places in a Republican state. While its demographics are changing, the county voted overwhelmingly for President. Bush in 2004.

Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens, a Republican, was surprised by Obama's visit.

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

Olens, who heads the Atlanta Regional Commission, is concerned an Obama presidency would bring additional federal regulation that would complicate approval for projects he oversees.

"When we promise our residents transportation projects, we need them delivered on a timely basis," he said. "I need less regulation rather than more."

But when asked what in McCain's economic policy he found most promising, Olens said he doesn't think "either [candidate] has a history with economic policies."

"But McCain's been a stalwart opponent to earmarking for thousands of projects, and he's for lower taxes," he said. "I think of him as a man who's against government waste."

Staff writer Jose Pagliery contributed to this article.