The decision by the DNC to block the public viewing of its own post-election analysis concerning the last presidential race is remarkable however entirely predictable. Resistant to frank assessments, the party's leadership apparatus behaves closer to a communications shop rather than a political organization devoted to building grassroots capacities capable of prevailing at the polls.
A Culture of Conformity
Unwilling to break with the party establishment's culture demanding unity, the committee has stayed within the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Making public such a report would have indicated that the leadership actually want to promote public discourse regarding 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: does this help us win? Should the answer be negative, it’s a distraction from what truly matters," a justification which was presented for withholding the document.
Major Failures an Autopsy Might Have Examined
Any valuable post-mortem worth its salt would confront certain uncomfortable matters. This encompasses:
- Voter Alienation: Failing to retain among a significant portion of the electorate who supported the party's candidate in 2020 proved pivotal during the tight recent race.
- The Insistence to Run: The determined decision of a party leader to seek re-election, coupled with an extremely delayed withdrawal, has been criticized as denying Democratic voters of open primaries.
- Losing Touch With the Working-Class Base: While facing rising costs, the campaign reportedly accommodating elite contributors without successfully attempting to confront the impact of big business.
- A Foreign Policy Impact: An unwillingness to shift a stance regarding a ongoing war is cited as losing many voters, notably among young people, Arab-Americans, Muslim voters.
- Eroding Young Voter Backing: Extensive evidence shows a huge decline of Democratic support from voters aged 18-29.
A Pattern Avoiding Accountability
This refusal aligns with a longstanding habit to avoid hard truths. It recalls a dynamic in which nearly all elected Democrat in Congress supported an incumbent's decision for running for re-election until a catastrophic televised debate compelled an exit.
Meanwhile, large majorities of Democratic voters were consistently telling pollsters that they did not want the incumbent to seek re-election.
Campaign Spending Issues
An honest analysis would also examine issues about where money went, such as what sums went to party strategists and ad buyers over the course of an electoral effort that managed to spend a colossal war chest during the general election.
The Broader Problem
Fundamentally, the blockage regarding the analysis is symptomatic of an allegiance toward the established hierarchy that oversaw an unsuccessful electoral effort. The message for the party's base – which includes millions of loyal volunteers – is that they do not be trusted to know the lessons the leadership say they discovered from hundreds of interviews based on extensive interviews.
A party unable to publicly examine its mistakes finds it difficult to climb out of the cycle which was so helpful to the rival party.
