The decision by the DNC to suppress the publication of its own post-election analysis on the last presidential race is remarkable however not surprising. Opposed to unpleasant candor, the Democrats' governing body often functions more like a communications shop than an electoral entity focused on cultivating grassroots capacities capable of prevailing at the polls.
A Climate Resistant to Internal Critique
Unwilling to challenge the prevailing attitude of conformity, the DNC has remained under the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Publishing an official autopsy might have shown that party leaders actually want to encourage open debate regarding the strategic failures that enabled Donald Trump to win re-election. Instead, the DNC is proceeding under the pretense that there are no lessons to understand from the electoral catastrophe from the last cycle.
"Here’s our North Star: does this help us win? If not, it becomes a sideline issue from our fundamental goal," a rationale reportedly given to justify concealing the analysis.
Critical Problems a Report Could Have Examined
An autopsy report with any value would not dodge a series of difficult topics. This encompasses:
- Voter Disenchantment: Losing of millions of voters who voted for the Democratic ticket during the previous election proved pivotal in the close recent race.
- The Choice to Run: The stubborn choice of the incumbent to run again, and a very late exit, has been criticized as denying Democratic voters of open primaries.
- Abandoning Everyday Americans: While facing economic anxiety, the campaign is criticized for accommodating powerful financial backers without successfully attempting to address the impact of corporate greed.
- The Foreign Policy Impact: An unwillingness to reconsider a policy position concerning a major international conflict reportedly led to losing significant blocs, notably among young people, Arab-Americans, and Muslim Americans.
- Losing Youth Backing: Research demonstrates a significant decline of Democratic support among young voters.
A Pattern Avoiding Accountability
Choosing secrecy is consistent with a pattern to avoid hard truths. It echoes a dynamic in which nearly all elected Democrat in Congress acquiesced to an incumbent's decision for running for re-election until a poor televised debate led to a change.
Concurrently, overwhelming numbers of the electorate had been repeatedly informing researchers of their opposition to that candidate to run again.
Campaign Spending Questions
A substantive autopsy could examine issues regarding where money went, such as the amounts went to high-priced advisors and ad buyers during an electoral effort which expended an enormous sum during the general election.
A Underlying Issue
Fundamentally, the blockage regarding the analysis highlights a deference toward the established hierarchy who engineered a disastrous electoral effort. The message to the party's base – which includes millions of loyal volunteers – is that they do not have a right to understand what the leadership claim to have learned based on hundreds of interviews based on conversations with insiders.
An organization unwilling to critically review where it went wrong finds it difficult to break free from the pattern that ended up being so beneficial to the rival party.
