Bush follows Johnson's Head Start.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

If there is a George W. Bush nearly all of us can admire, it is the one who talks about poverty and sounds as if he means to do something about it.

This Bush has appeared on several occasions. He first showed up on Inauguration Day, proclaiming that "deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's promise."

And he was there again two weeks ago at Notre Dame's commencement, calling on the nation to "build our unity by extending our country's blessings" to those who don't share now them.

The Notre Dame speech was noteworthy for several reasons. For one thing, the President, unlike so many Republicans before him, managed to talk about Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty of the 1960s without trashing it as big government at its worst.

In fact, Bush applauded the Johnson-era effort for its "noble intentions and some enduring successes," which include the Head Start program and not, by the way, the welfare system itself. That was already in place.

Bush was not afraid to associate his own approach with that legacy _ and not just with the tougher-minded welfare reform efforts of the 1990s. He acknowledged the daunting challenge that remains, namely to improve the lives of those unskilled or trouble people for whom the looming threat of being dropped from the rolls does not convert readily to employment.

His own answer, in part, is to try something different. He proposes to channel federal dollars to faith-based and community groups. That way they can provide the counseling, treatment and support services now being offered by government agencies, private operations, or not at all.