This decision from the DNC to block the public viewing regarding its own post-election analysis concerning the last presidential race seems stunning but entirely predictable. Averse to hard truths, the Democrats' governing body behaves more like a PR firm than an electoral entity focused on building local power capable of prevailing at the polls.
A Culture of Conformity
Hesitant to break with the party establishment's culture of conformity, the committee has stayed under the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Making public the findings would have indicated whether party leaders actually want to encourage open debate regarding the strategic failures that enabled the former president to become president again. However, the committee is acting as if there is little to be learned from the tragic debacle from the last cycle.
Our guiding principle: does this help us win? Should the answer be negative, it is an unnecessary diversion from the core mission," an explanation that has been offered to justify concealing the report.
Key Issues a Report Might Have Explored
An autopsy report with any value would tackle head-on a series of difficult topics. Among them are:
- Voter Disenchantment: The loss among a significant portion of the electorate that backed the Democratic ticket in 2020 proved pivotal during the tight recent race.
- The Insistence to Seek Re-election: The stubborn decision by a party leader to seek re-election, coupled with a last-minute step-aside, has been criticized as denying the party's base of a genuine choice.
- Losing Touch With Everyday Americans: While facing inflation, the electoral effort is criticized for bowing to elite contributors while failing to address the effects of big business.
- The Gaza Effect: An unwillingness to reconsider an approach concerning the situation in Gaza allegedly caused driving away key demographic groups, especially with young people, Arab American communities, Muslim voters.
- A Decline in Youth Allegiance: Research demonstrates a major decrease of votes for the candidate among voters aged 18-29.
A History of Evasion
This refusal fits a recurring tendency of evading hard truths. It recalls a dynamic in which the vast majority of elected Democrat in Congress supported an incumbent's determination to seeking another term until a poor campaign event led to a change.
Meanwhile, large majorities of the electorate were continually telling surveyors that they did not want the incumbent to be the nominee.
Campaign Spending Concerns
A thorough report might also probe matters about campaign spending, such as the amounts were directed to party strategists as well as ad buyers during an electoral effort which expended a colossal amount in a short period.
A Larger Implication
Ultimately, the secrecy surrounding this report points to a submission toward the established hierarchy that oversaw a disastrous presidential campaign. The signal to rank-and-file members – which includes countless small donors – appears to be that they do not have a right to see what the insiders have learned based on hundreds of interviews drawing from conversations with insiders.
A political entity unwilling to publicly examine where it went wrong is unlikely to climb out of the pattern that proved so advantageous to their opponents.
