This move from the Democratic National Committee to withhold the public viewing regarding its internal autopsy report on the last presidential race appears shocking yet entirely predictable. Averse to frank assessments, the DNC operates closer to a publicity machine rather than a political organization focused on building grassroots capacities to secure victories.
An Environment of Conformity
Unwilling to break with the prevailing attitude demanding unity, the committee has remained under the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Publishing the findings could have demonstrated whether party leaders actually want to foster open debate regarding the errors that enabled Donald Trump to become president again. Yet, the leadership is moving forward as if there is little to glean from the electoral catastrophe from the last cycle.
The top priority: does this help us win? If not, it becomes a sideline issue from what truly matters," a rationale reportedly given for withholding the report.
Critical Problems an Autopsy Would Have Examined
Any valuable post-mortem worth its salt would tackle head-on a series of difficult topics. This encompasses:
- Voter Disengagement: Failing to retain among millions of voters that backed the party's candidate in 2020 was decisive in the narrowly decided recent race.
- The Choice to Run: The unwavering insistence by a party leader to run again, and a last-minute withdrawal, has been criticized as denying Democratic voters the chance for open primaries.
- Losing Touch With Core Democratic Voters: During a time of inflation, the electoral effort allegedly ceding to powerful financial backers while failing to address the effects of profit-seeking.
- A Foreign Policy Impact: The refusal to shift an approach concerning a major international conflict is cited as driving away many voters, notably among youth voters, Arab American communities, Muslim voters.
- Eroding Young Voter Backing: Research demonstrates a significant decrease in Democratic support among young voters.
A Pattern of Evasion
Choosing secrecy is consistent with a recurring tendency to avoid difficult realities. It recalls an episode in which nearly all elected Democrat in Congress acquiesced to an incumbent's determination to seeking another term right up until a disastrous televised debate led to a reversal.
Meanwhile, overwhelming numbers of Democratic voters had been repeatedly informing surveyors that they did not want the incumbent to be the nominee.
Campaign Spending Issues
A substantive autopsy might also examine questions regarding campaign spending, such as how much money were directed to high-priced advisors and media firms during a campaign that burned through a staggering war chest during the general election.
A Underlying Problem
Fundamentally, the suppression surrounding this report points to a submission to party leaders who engineered a disastrous electoral effort. The implication to rank-and-file members – including countless loyal volunteers – is that they do not have a right to see what the leadership have learned from hundreds of interviews compiled from feedback from all states.
A political entity incapable to honestly assess its mistakes is unlikely to break free from the pattern which was so helpful to the winning candidate.
