The move from the DNC to withhold the publication regarding its internal post-election analysis concerning the last presidential race appears remarkable but not surprising. Resistant to hard truths, the party's leadership apparatus behaves more like a PR firm rather than an electoral entity committed to cultivating local power for winning elections.
A Culture Resistant to Internal Critique
Unwilling to break with the prevailing attitude of conformity, the DNC has stayed within the influence of the previous administration throughout this past year. Publishing such a report might have shown that the leadership are interested to promote open debate regarding the missteps which allowed Donald Trump to return to the White House. However, the leadership is moving forward under the pretense that there are no lessons to glean from the electoral catastrophe from the last cycle.
Our guiding principle: is this good for winning elections? If not, it is an unnecessary diversion from what truly matters," a rationale reportedly given for withholding the report.
Major Failures an Autopsy Might Have Addressed
Any valuable post-mortem worth its salt would not dodge key points of failure. Among them are:
- Voter Disenchantment: The loss among a significant portion of the electorate who supported the party's candidate during the previous election became a critical factor in the narrowly decided recent race.
- The Insistence to Run: The unwavering choice of the incumbent to stay in the race, and an extremely delayed step-aside, has been criticized as denying Democratic voters the chance for a genuine choice.
- Abandoning the Working-Class Base: Amid economic anxiety, the electoral effort is criticized for ceding to elite contributors without successfully attempting to address the role of big business.
- The Gaza Effect: The refusal to adjust a policy position concerning a ongoing war allegedly caused alienating many voters, notably with youth voters, Arab American communities, Muslim voters.
- Eroding Young Voter Support: Research indicates a major decrease in Democratic support from voters aged 18-29.
A Pattern Avoiding Accountability
Choosing secrecy fits a recurring tendency of evading uncomfortable facts. It echoes an episode where nearly all Democratic officeholder in Congress acquiesced to an incumbent's insistence on seeking another term right up until a poor televised debate forced a reversal.
At the same time, a significant majority of Democratic voters were consistently telling researchers of their opposition to that candidate to seek re-election.
Campaign Spending Concerns
A substantive analysis could examine matters regarding financial allocations, such as what sums flowed to party strategists and ad buyers during an electoral effort that burned through a staggering war chest over a few months.
The Broader Implication
Fundamentally, the blockage regarding the analysis points to a submission toward the established hierarchy responsible for a losing electoral effort. The implication for rank-and-file members – including countless dedicated activists – is that they cannot be trusted to know what the leadership have learned based on an analysis compiled from feedback from all states.
A party unwilling to honestly assess where it went wrong finds it difficult to break free from the pattern which was so advantageous to their opponents.
