The action from the DNC to withhold the public viewing of its internal autopsy report concerning the last presidential race seems stunning however entirely predictable. Resistant to unpleasant candor, the DNC operates closer to a PR firm rather than an electoral entity focused on cultivating local power capable of prevailing at the polls.
A Culture of Conformity
Unwilling to challenge the prevailing attitude of conformity, the DNC has stayed under the influence of the previous administration all through this past year. Making public such a report might have shown whether party leaders actually want to promote open debate about the missteps that paved the way for the former president to win re-election. However, the DNC is proceeding as if there are no lessons to understand from the tragic debacle from the last cycle.
"Here’s our North Star: is this good for winning elections? If not, it is an unnecessary diversion from the core mission," a justification that has been offered for withholding the analysis.
Key Issues an Autopsy Might Have Addressed
A genuine analysis worth its salt would confront key points of failure. These include:
- Electoral Disengagement: Failing to retain of a significant portion of the electorate who voted for the party's candidate in 2020 proved pivotal in the close recent race.
- The Decision to Run: The unwavering choice by a party leader to stay in the race, alongside an extremely delayed withdrawal, has been criticized as denying Democratic voters of a genuine choice.
- Losing Touch With the Working-Class Base: Amid economic anxiety, the electoral effort allegedly ceding to corporate donors' interests without successfully attempting to address the effects of profit-seeking.
- The Foreign Policy Factor: The refusal to adjust a stance on a ongoing war reportedly led to driving away many voters, especially among young people, Arab-Americans, and Muslim Americans.
- Eroding Young Voter Allegiance: Research shows a major decline of Democratic support among young voters.
A Record of Evasion
Choosing secrecy aligns with a longstanding habit of evading hard truths. It recalls a dynamic in which the vast majority of elected Democrat in Washington acquiesced to an incumbent's determination to seeking another term until a catastrophic televised debate forced a reversal.
Concurrently, large majorities of Democratic voters had been consistently telling surveyors that they opposed the incumbent to run again.
Campaign Spending Questions
A substantive analysis would also examine questions regarding financial allocations, such as the amounts went to high-priced advisors as well as ad buyers over the course of an electoral effort that managed to spend an enormous war chest in a short period.
A Underlying Problem
At its core, the suppression of the official autopsy points to a deference toward party leaders responsible for an unsuccessful presidential campaign. The implication for ordinary supporters – which includes millions of dedicated activists – is that they cannot be trusted to see what the leadership say they discovered from hundreds of interviews based on feedback from all states.
An organization unable to publicly examine where it went wrong finds it difficult to escape the cycle that proved so beneficial to their opponents.
