Editing Contract with America (section)

== Commentary ==

Journalist and senior congressional reporter [[Major Garrett]] equated the contract with a game of [[miniature golf]], "fun, popular, and largely diversionary exercise meant to satisfy middle-class sensibilities", contrasted with the [[golf]] of governing America and leadership. Republicans interviewed by Garrett when the contract was being compiled said it was meant to be a political document of easy goals, not a governing document, with one senior aide explaining, "We don't care if the Senate passes any of the items in the contract. It would be preferable, but it's not necessary. If the freshmen do everything the contract says, they'll be in excellent shape for 1996".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1995/03/garrett.html |title=Beyond the Contract |work=Mother Jones |author-link=Major Garrett |first=Major |last=Garrett |date=March–April 1995}}</ref>

In 2014, business and finance writer [[John Steele Gordon]], writing in ''The American'', an online magazine published by the [[American Enterprise Institute]], praised the contract, calling it the main reason for the Republican victory in 1994", in part because it "nationalized the election".<ref name=Gordon2014>{{cite news |last1=Gordon |first1=John Steele |title=Time for a New Contract with America |url=http://www.aei.org/publication/time-for-a-new-contract-with-america/ |access-date=May 1, 2017 |work=The American |publisher=American Enterprise Institute |date=May 16, 2014}}</ref>