The action by the DNC to block the public viewing regarding its internal autopsy report on the last presidential race is stunning but entirely predictable. Averse to frank assessments, the party's leadership apparatus operates closer to a PR firm rather than an electoral entity focused on building grassroots capacities capable of prevailing at the polls.
An Environment of Conformity
Reluctant to break with the party establishment's culture demanding unity, the DNC has stayed under the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Releasing such a report could have demonstrated whether the leadership truly desire to foster honest conversation about the missteps that paved the way for the former president to return to the White House. Yet, the leadership is moving forward under the pretense that there's nothing to glean following the stunning loss of 2024.
The top priority: is this good for winning elections? If the answer is no, it is an unnecessary diversion from the core mission," an explanation reportedly given to justify concealing the analysis.
Critical Problems an Analysis Would Have Explored
Any valuable post-mortem with any value would not dodge certain uncomfortable matters. These include:
- Electoral Disenchantment: The loss of a significant portion of the electorate that backed the Democratic ticket during the previous election was decisive in the narrowly decided 2024 election.
- A Choice to Run: The determined decision by the incumbent to seek re-election, coupled with a very late withdrawal, is seen by some as denying the party's base the chance for a genuine choice.
- Abandoning Core Democratic Voters: Amid inflation, the campaign is criticized for ceding to elite contributors while failing to address the impact of profit-seeking.
- A Foreign Policy Factor: The refusal to adjust an approach concerning a major international conflict allegedly caused driving away many voters, particularly among young people, Arab-Americans, and Muslim Americans.
- Eroding Young Voter Support: Extensive evidence shows a significant decline of Democratic support among the youth electorate.
A Record Shunning Scrutiny
The decision to withhold is consistent with a longstanding habit of evading hard truths. It recalls a situation in which virtually every Democratic officeholder in Washington acquiesced to an incumbent's insistence on running for re-election until a disastrous televised debate compelled a change.
At the same time, large majorities of the electorate had been repeatedly informing pollsters that they did not want the incumbent to seek re-election.
Financial Questions
An honest analysis would also examine questions about where money went, such as what sums were directed to insider consultants as well as media firms over the course of a campaign that burned through an enormous war chest over a few months.
The Underlying Issue
At its core, the blockage of the official autopsy highlights a submission to the existing power structure who engineered a losing national race. The signal for ordinary supporters – including millions of small donors – appears to be that they cannot be trusted to understand what the leadership claim to have learned from hundreds of interviews based on feedback from all states.
A political entity incapable to critically review where it went wrong finds it difficult to break free from the cycle that ended up being so beneficial to their opponents.
