You're right, Newt is brilliant. Unfortunately, he's a poor leader, he's a weak, small, selfish man, someone who loses focus when criticized. He's disloyal, and incapable of admitting his mistakes or his shortcomings. Success spoiled him, made him think he was invincible, made him commit foolish blunders.
Newt is a born professor, but woe be unto us all if he ever assumed office higher than what he's already achieved, and lost, through his own disturbing behavior.
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However, Newt did the things he said he would do in his first contract and the people paid him upfront by deliverying the house to him.
What he's proposing in his new contract would take incredible leadership to perform; what the contract does as well is to serve as a script to keep him on message--as was was the case during the first contract. that is, once he did the stuff he said he would do in the first contract he wandered afield.
the new contract that newt has put out is not only his program but his way of compensating for his own defects of character. The book would serve as his script.
Respectfully,