The move by the DNC to suppress the publication of its own post-election analysis on the last presidential race seems shocking yet not surprising. Resistant to hard truths, the party's leadership apparatus often functions closer to a PR firm rather than an electoral entity committed to building local power capable of prevailing at the polls.
A Climate That Avoids Dissent
Hesitant to challenge the prevailing attitude demanding unity, the committee has remained within the Biden-Harris shadow all through this past year. Releasing the findings could have demonstrated that the leadership are interested to promote public discourse regarding the errors which allowed Donald Trump to become president again. Yet, the leadership is moving forward under the pretense that there's nothing to be learned following the tragic debacle from the last cycle.
Our guiding principle: is this good for winning elections? Should the answer be negative, it’s a distraction from our fundamental goal," a justification which was presented for withholding the document.
Critical Problems an Analysis Might Have Explored
Any valuable post-mortem worth its salt would tackle head-on certain uncomfortable matters. Among them are:
- Electoral Disengagement: Losing of a significant portion of the electorate who supported the Democratic ticket during the previous election was decisive in the narrowly decided recent race.
- The Insistence to Run: The determined choice by a party leader to run again, alongside an extremely delayed withdrawal, is viewed as robbing Democratic voters the chance for open primaries.
- Failing Core Democratic Voters: During a time of inflation, the campaign reportedly accommodating corporate donors' interests and not managing to confront the role of corporate greed.
- The Gaza Effect: The refusal to reconsider an approach concerning a ongoing war allegedly caused losing key demographic groups, especially among youth voters, Arab-Americans, Muslim voters.
- A Decline in Youth Allegiance: Polling data demonstrates a huge drop-off in votes for the candidate from young voters.
A Record of Evasion
The decision to withhold fits a longstanding habit of evading difficult realities. It recalls a dynamic in which the vast majority of elected Democrat in Congress acquiesced to an incumbent's determination to seeking another term right up until a disastrous campaign event forced a change.
Concurrently, large majorities within the party's base had been repeatedly informing researchers that they opposed the incumbent to seek re-election.
Campaign Spending Issues
A substantive report might also examine matters regarding campaign spending, such as what sums went to insider consultants as well as advertising contractors during a campaign that managed to spend a colossal sum over a few months.
The Broader Issue
At its core, the suppression of the official autopsy is symptomatic of a deference toward party leaders who engineered a disastrous presidential campaign. The message for the party's base – including countless small donors – appears to be that they cannot be trusted to know what party chiefs say they discovered based on a report based on conversations with insiders.
A political entity incapable to critically review its own failings is unlikely to escape the pattern that ended up being so advantageous to their opponents.
