The decision by the Democratic National Committee to suppress the publication of its internal autopsy report concerning the last presidential race seems remarkable however not surprising. Opposed to hard truths, the DNC behaves closer to a communications shop rather than an electoral entity devoted to cultivating a volunteer base capable of prevailing at the polls.
An Environment That Avoids Dissent
Unwilling to depart from the party establishment's culture demanding unity, the committee has continued under the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Making public an official autopsy would have indicated whether party leaders are interested to promote honest conversation regarding the strategic failures which allowed the former president to win re-election. Yet, the DNC is proceeding as if there are no lessons to understand from the electoral catastrophe from the last cycle.
The top priority: does this help us win? Should the answer be negative, it’s a distraction from what truly matters," a rationale that has been offered to justify concealing the document.
Critical Problems a Report Would Have Explored
A genuine analysis with any value would confront key points of failure. This encompasses:
- Voter Disengagement: Failing to retain among millions of voters that backed the Democratic ticket during the previous election proved pivotal in the narrowly decided recent race.
- The Choice to Seek Re-election: The unwavering decision by the incumbent to stay in the race, and a last-minute step-aside, is seen by some as robbing Democratic voters the chance for a genuine choice.
- Abandoning Core Democratic Voters: While facing rising costs, the campaign is criticized for ceding to elite contributors while failing to confront the effects of big business.
- A Foreign Policy Factor: The failure to reconsider a policy position on a ongoing war is cited as driving away key demographic groups, notably with young people, Arab-Americans, and Muslim Americans.
- A Decline in Young Voter Backing: Polling data indicates a major drop-off of votes for the candidate from the youth electorate.
A Record of Evasion
Choosing secrecy fits a recurring tendency of sidestepping uncomfortable facts. It recalls a dynamic where the vast majority of elected Democrat in Congress went along with an incumbent's insistence on seeking another term until a disastrous campaign event led to an exit.
Meanwhile, large majorities of the electorate were consistently telling researchers that they did not want that candidate to run again.
Campaign Spending Concerns
A substantive autopsy might also investigate issues about where money went, including what sums flowed to party strategists and media firms during an electoral effort which expended an enormous amount in a short period.
The Broader Problem
At its core, the secrecy regarding the analysis highlights an allegiance to party leaders responsible for a disastrous national race. The message for the party's base – which includes millions of loyal volunteers – appears to be that they cannot be trusted to know the lessons the leadership claim to have learned based on an analysis based on feedback from all states.
A political entity unwilling to honestly assess where it went wrong is unlikely to climb out of the cycle that ended up being so helpful to the winning candidate.
