The decision from the Democratic National Committee to withhold the public viewing of its own autopsy report concerning the last presidential race is remarkable but not surprising. Opposed to hard truths, the DNC behaves closer to a PR firm than a political organization devoted to cultivating grassroots capacities capable of prevailing at the polls.
An Environment Resistant to Internal Critique
Unwilling to break with the prevailing attitude of conformity, the DNC has continued within that legacy throughout this past year. Releasing the findings could have demonstrated that the leadership actually want to encourage public discourse about the strategic failures that enabled the former president to win re-election. Yet, the DNC is proceeding as if there is little to be learned from the tragic debacle from the last cycle.
Our guiding principle: is this good for winning elections? Should the answer be negative, it becomes a sideline issue from the core mission," a rationale which was presented to justify concealing the analysis.
Major Failures a Report Could Have Addressed
An autopsy report worth its salt would not dodge certain uncomfortable matters. These include:
- Voter Disengagement: Losing among a significant portion of the electorate who supported the Democratic ticket in 2020 was decisive in the narrowly decided recent race.
- The Choice to Run: The determined choice by a party leader to seek re-election, coupled with a last-minute withdrawal, is seen by some as robbing Democratic voters of a genuine choice.
- Failing Core Democratic Voters: Amid economic anxiety, the electoral effort reportedly accommodating elite contributors and not managing to challenge the impact of corporate greed.
- The Foreign Policy Impact: The failure to adjust a stance concerning a major international conflict reportedly led to driving away many voters, notably with youth voters, Arab-Americans, and Muslim Americans.
- A Decline in Youth Allegiance: Research demonstrates a huge decline of support for the party among the youth electorate.
A History of Evasion
This refusal aligns with a recurring tendency of sidestepping difficult realities. It echoes an episode in which virtually every elected Democrat in Congress went along with a sitting president's determination to seeking another term until a catastrophic campaign event forced a reversal.
Meanwhile, a significant majority of Democratic voters were continually telling surveyors that they opposed the incumbent to be the nominee.
Financial Questions
A thorough autopsy would also examine issues about campaign spending, such as what sums flowed to insider consultants and media firms during a campaign that managed to spend an enormous sum over a few months.
A Underlying Issue
Ultimately, the suppression regarding the analysis is symptomatic of a submission toward the established hierarchy responsible for a disastrous electoral effort. The message for the party's base – which includes millions of small donors – is that they do not have a right to know the lessons the leadership have learned based on hundreds of interviews compiled from extensive interviews.
A political entity unable to critically review its own failings is unlikely to climb out of the cycle that proved so beneficial to the rival party.
