Census figures for 2009 will be released next week and demographers are expecting grim news. According to projections, 45 million people — or 1 in 7 citizens — lived in poverty during 2009. That would be in the range of 1960s levels, when the federal government declared a (failed) war on poverty.

If those figures prove accurate, we will have experienced — on the Democratic Party’s watch — the largest increase in poverty figures on record (tracking began in 1959).

It’s unfortunate timing for Obama and his party just seven weeks before important elections when control of Congress is at stake. The anticipated poverty rate increase — from 13.2 percent to about 15 percent — would be another blow to Democrats struggling to persuade voters to keep them in power…

Among the 18-64 working-age population, the demographers expect a rise beyond 12.4 percent, up from 11.7 percent. That would make it the highest since at least 1965, when another Democratic president, Lyndon B. Johnson, launched the war on poverty that expanded the federal government’s role in social welfare programs from education to health care.

And boy did that work out well for the country! The war on poverty failed but we were left with a myriad of social programs that are on track to bankrupt America. I guess you can consider ObamaCare the first such program of the Obama Administration.

Bonus terrible figure: More than 20% of American children lived in poverty in 2009 despite the $787 billion “stimulus” legislation and other massive government legislation intended to get American parents back to work. Maybe it’s time for a change of policy, folks.