This move by the DNC to suppress the public viewing of its internal autopsy report on the last presidential race is shocking but not surprising. Opposed to hard truths, the DNC often functions more like a communications shop rather than a political organization committed to cultivating grassroots capacities for winning elections.
A Culture of Conformity
Hesitant to break with the prevailing attitude of conformity, the DNC has continued under the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Releasing an official autopsy would have indicated whether party leaders actually want to encourage honest conversation about the errors that paved the way for Donald Trump to become president again. Yet, the leadership is moving forward as if there's nothing to glean from the electoral catastrophe of 2024.
Our guiding principle: is this good for winning elections? Should the answer be negative, it’s a distraction from the core mission," a justification that has been offered to justify concealing the report.
Key Issues an Autopsy Might Have Explored
An autopsy report worth its salt would confront certain uncomfortable matters. This encompasses:
- Electoral Alienation: Failing to retain of a significant portion of the electorate who supported the party's candidate in 2020 became a critical factor in the narrowly decided recent race.
- A Choice to Run: The unwavering insistence by the incumbent to stay in the race, coupled with a very late step-aside, has been criticized as denying Democratic voters of open primaries.
- Failing Everyday Americans: During a time of economic anxiety, the campaign reportedly ceding to powerful financial backers without successfully attempting to challenge the role of corporate greed.
- A Foreign Policy Effect: The failure to adjust a stance on a major international conflict reportedly led to alienating key demographic groups, notably with young people, Arab American communities, Muslim voters.
- A Decline in Young Voter Allegiance: Extensive evidence indicates a major drop-off in support for the party from voters aged 18-29.
A Record of Evasion
Choosing secrecy is consistent with a pattern to avoid hard truths. This mirrors a dynamic in which nearly all elected Democrat in Washington went along with a sitting president's decision for running for re-election until a poor public debate performance led to a reversal.
Meanwhile, large majorities of the electorate were repeatedly informing pollsters that they did not want that candidate to seek re-election.
Financial Issues
An honest autopsy would also examine issues about campaign spending, such as the amounts were directed to insider consultants as well as media firms during a campaign that burned through a staggering amount in a short period.
The Underlying Problem
Ultimately, the suppression of the official autopsy highlights a submission to the established hierarchy who engineered a disastrous electoral effort. The message for ordinary supporters – which includes millions of loyal volunteers – appears to be that they do not be trusted to understand the lessons the leadership say they discovered from a report based on feedback from all states.
A party incapable to publicly examine its mistakes finds it difficult to climb out of the pattern that proved so helpful to the winning candidate.
