Hillary Clinton

* Clarence Page in “Spare Us the Psychobabble” (Commentary, May 27) misstates Hillary Clinton’s plea for “a new politics of meaning . . . a new ethos of individual responsibility and caring . . . a new definition of civil society . . . that fills us up again and makes us part of something bigger than ourselves.”

What she was attempting to say was that we need a higher ideal to inspire us in the governance of ourselves and our nation. This is not psychobabble but an honest admission that we know so little about ourselves, and that in a democracy or republic it is the responsibility of everyone to contribute mentally and spiritually as well as materially.

As for Page’s presuming that the Clintons are expected to lead us out of the wilderness, Moses did that thousands of years ago. We do not elect presidents to be our intellectual and spiritual counselors, or, heaven forbid, we would be in a worse mess than we are in now.

EUGENE J. DEAN

Santa Monica

* The usually able and articulate Page was way off target in his attempts to label Hillary Clinton’s search for the “politics of meaning” as outdated.

Fortunately for humanity, it will never be outdated. There are many of us who agree with her that, indeed, “We need a new ethos of individual responsibility and caring.” We have also, as have others down the ages, concluded that life is somewhat meaningless without the search for something outside that which we can touch, see, hear and buy. The fact that this “sounds like something you have heard before” detracts not a whit from its validity.

We will be blessed if Mrs. Clinton is able to turn our hearts and minds beyond the purely material aspects of our existence.

KEN MALONEY

JULIE FORD-MALONEY

Huntington Beach