50 years later, war on poverty has new battle lines --- WASHINGTON — Fifty years later, LBJ's audacious promise in his first State of the Union Address may be resounding again. -- On Jan. 8, 1964, just seven weeks after John F. Kennedy's assassination propelled him into the Oval Office, Lyndon B. Johnson described to a Joint Session of Congress the plight of Americans who "live on the outskirts of hope" because of poverty or race. "This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America," he declared in his Texas twang, voice rising. Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start and more would follow in a historic rush of legislation. --- LBJ set the goal high. "It will not be a short or easy struggle; no single weapon or strategy will suffice, but we shall not rest until that war is won," he declared in his speech, 50 years ago Wednesday. "The richest nation on Earth can afford to win it." --- Many of those programs were launched by LBJ. During his administration, a pilot program for food stamps became permanent. The federal government established the Head Start program for preschoolers, began to help finance elementary and secondary school education, and started college aid and loan programs. Social Security benefits were raised and Medicare and Medicaid were created. -- "Nobody talked about poverty since then the way he did," says Califano, who would later serve as secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the Carter administration. "Poverty and civil rights were the driving forces of his presidency." When Johnson read through speechwriter Ted Sorensen's draft of that first State of the Union address, he added several words to the key sentence on poverty — writing in "today" and "here and now" — for emphasis. --- "The American people are angry; they are hurting; they are sick and tired of Wall Street and the very rich becoming richer while the middle class disappears," says Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a political independent who caucuses with the Democrats. He says income and wealth inequality have "reached obscene proportions." - More, Susan Page, USA TODAY - at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/01/06/war-on-poverty-50-years-later/4344985/