The decision from the Democratic National Committee to withhold the public viewing regarding its own post-election analysis on the last presidential race is remarkable yet entirely predictable. Resistant to hard truths, the party's leadership apparatus behaves closer to a publicity machine rather than an electoral entity committed to building grassroots capacities capable of prevailing at the polls.
A Climate Resistant to Internal Critique
Unwilling to depart from the party establishment's culture demanding unity, the committee has stayed under the influence of the previous administration throughout this past year. Publishing an official autopsy would have indicated whether party leaders truly desire to encourage honest conversation about the strategic failures that paved the way for Donald Trump to become president again. Instead, the leadership is moving forward under the pretense that there is little to be learned following the tragic debacle from the last cycle.
"Here’s our North Star: will this lead to victory? If not, it is an unnecessary diversion from what truly matters," a rationale that has been offered to justify concealing the document.
Critical Problems an Autopsy Could Have Explored
An autopsy report with any value would not dodge key points of failure. Among them are:
- Electoral Alienation: Failing to retain among a significant portion of the electorate that backed the party's candidate during the previous election proved pivotal during the tight recent race.
- The Choice to Seek Re-election: The unwavering decision of a party leader to seek re-election, and a very late withdrawal, has been criticized as robbing Democratic voters of a genuine choice.
- Failing the Working-Class Base: Amid rising costs, the campaign allegedly bowing to corporate donors' interests while failing to challenge the role of big business.
- A Foreign Policy Factor: The refusal to adjust an approach on a major international conflict allegedly caused driving away many voters, especially with youth voters, Arab-Americans, and Muslim Americans.
- Losing Youth Support: Research indicates a major decline in support for the party among the youth electorate.
A History Shunning Scrutiny
The decision to withhold aligns with a longstanding habit of sidestepping hard truths. It echoes a dynamic where virtually every elected Democrat in Congress acquiesced to an incumbent's insistence on seeking another term right up until a poor televised debate compelled a reversal.
At the same time, large majorities of the electorate had been repeatedly informing pollsters that they did not want the incumbent to run again.
Financial Issues
An honest autopsy would also investigate matters regarding campaign spending, including the amounts went to insider consultants and media firms over the course of a campaign that burned through a staggering war chest over a few months.
A Underlying Problem
Fundamentally, the secrecy surrounding this report highlights a deference to the existing power structure that oversaw a disastrous presidential campaign. The signal to ordinary supporters – including millions of dedicated activists – appears to be that they cannot be trusted to see the lessons party chiefs have learned from a report based on conversations with insiders.
A party incapable to publicly examine its mistakes is unlikely to escape the rut that ended up being so advantageous to their opponents.
