This decision from the Democratic National Committee to withhold the public viewing of its own autopsy report concerning the last presidential race seems stunning yet not surprising. Opposed to unpleasant candor, the DNC behaves more like a communications shop rather than a political organization committed to cultivating a volunteer base for winning elections.
An Environment That Avoids Dissent
Reluctant to break with the party establishment's culture of conformity, the DNC has stayed under the influence of the previous administration throughout this past year. Releasing the findings could have demonstrated that the leadership truly desire to promote public discourse regarding the errors which allowed the former president to return to the White House. However, the committee is acting under the pretense that there is little to be learned following the stunning loss from the last cycle.
"Here’s our North Star: does this help us win? If not, it becomes a sideline issue from the core mission," a rationale that has been offered to justify concealing the analysis.
Key Issues a Report Might Have Examined
Any valuable post-mortem worth its salt would tackle head-on a series of difficult topics. Among them are:
- Voter Disenchantment: The loss of millions of voters who voted for the Democratic ticket in 2020 was decisive in the close recent race.
- A Decision to Run: The determined insistence by the incumbent to seek re-election, and an extremely delayed exit, has been criticized as denying the party's base of a genuine choice.
- Abandoning Core Democratic Voters: Amid rising costs, the campaign reportedly ceding to powerful financial backers and not managing to address the impact of corporate greed.
- The Foreign Policy Effect: The failure to adjust an approach on a major international conflict allegedly caused driving away significant blocs, notably with youth voters, Arab American communities, Muslim voters.
- Eroding Youth Backing: Extensive evidence demonstrates a significant decrease in support for the party from the youth electorate.
A Record of Evasion
Choosing secrecy fits a longstanding habit of sidestepping hard truths. It echoes a situation in which virtually every Democratic officeholder in Washington supported a sitting president's decision for running for re-election until a catastrophic public debate performance led to an exit.
Concurrently, large majorities of the electorate had been continually telling researchers of their opposition to the incumbent to seek re-election.
Campaign Spending Concerns
A substantive analysis could examine questions regarding campaign spending, such as what sums flowed to party strategists and ad buyers over the course of a campaign that managed to spend a colossal amount in a short period.
The Larger Problem
Fundamentally, the blockage of the official autopsy is symptomatic of a deference toward party leaders responsible for a losing electoral effort. The implication to rank-and-file members – including countless small donors – appears to be that they do not have a right to know what the insiders say they discovered based on hundreds of interviews based on feedback from all states.
A party incapable to honestly assess its mistakes is unlikely to break free from the cycle which was so helpful to the rival party.
