Summary
Pres Bill Clinton used the term, "New Covenant," to describe his campaign policy during the 1992 election, but he disregarded the covenant after he came into office. The New Covenant suggested the biblical agreement between God and his people, and called for an agreement between US government and citizens that empowered both. Clinton alluded to the New Covenant when his presidency was challenged by the Republicans Contract for America, and spoke of forging a New Covenant in a speech at Georgetown University in 1996, but never announced its completion. He has not alluded to it since 1996.
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Extract
Clinton and the New Covenant: theology shaping a new politics or old politics in religious garb?
In 1992, the national Democratic platform(1) bore the rifle, "A New Covenant with the American People." This heading drew upon the vocabulary of the party's nominee for president: William Jefferson Clinton. Clinton had "unveiled his `New Covenant' campaign theme in 1991"(2) at Georgetown University, his alma mater. It was specifically asserted in the preamble of the Democratic platform. It was the president's label for what he described as his new approach to government in his acceptance speech for the Democratic presidential nomination. In an assessment of the speech for the New York Times, Karen De Witt likened the phrase to that of recent presidents. "Franklin D. Roosevelt had his New Deal; John F. Kennedy his New Frontier and Lyndon B. Johnson his Great Society. If Mr. Clinton has his way, historians in the next century will be studying the New Covenant."(3) De Witt went on to quote Clinton's definition and explanation of the phrase, then adding, "Like so many other slogans, the New Covenant is short on specifics ... but then, Franklin Roosevelt never spelled out the details of the New Deal before he took office either."
The purpose of this essay is to give greater scrutiny to the political meaning of Clinton's New Covenant. How have he and his allies used the concept? What are the traditional meanings of the concept and how do its moral overtones carry into the political process? Does this usage connect with other, more contemporary applications of the term? If this concept is drawn out of a religious heritage familiar to Bill Clinton, does this raise the significance of this commitment? As a president well into his second term, is there evidence that the New Covenant has specific meaning? CLINTON'S CONCEPTION OF THE NEW COVENANT The best exposition of the New Covenant is in the preamble of the 1992 Democratic platform.(4) Its thirteen paragraphs introduce the covenant idea and set the rhetorical stage for a dozen pages of policy ideas for the presidential nominee and his party. The first paragraph connects the party to the American Revolution and its key spokesman, Thomas Jefferson. Four paragraphs indict Republicans for disappointing the "American Dream." Paragraph six is a transition: "Therefore we call for a revolution in government ... we vow to make government more decentralized, more flexible, and more accountable."(5) The next paragraph adumbrates the Revolution of 1992 and the paragraphs following state that the purpose of this revolution is to rebuild the economy, reward work, radically change how government works, face up ...See the full content of this document
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