The action by the DNC to withhold the release of its own autopsy report concerning the 2024 election appears remarkable yet entirely predictable. Resistant to unpleasant candor, the Democrats' governing body behaves more like a communications shop than a political organization devoted to cultivating local power to secure victories.
A Culture of Conformity
Unwilling to depart from the prevailing attitude of conformity, the committee has stayed within the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Making public an official autopsy could have demonstrated that party leaders are interested to encourage open debate regarding the missteps which allowed the former president to win re-election. However, the committee is acting as if there are no lessons to be learned following the stunning loss from the last cycle.
Our guiding principle: is this good for winning elections? If the answer is no, it is an unnecessary diversion from what truly matters," an explanation which was presented to justify concealing the document.
Major Failures an Autopsy Would Have Addressed
Any valuable post-mortem with any value would not dodge certain uncomfortable matters. Among them are:
- Electoral Disengagement: The loss of millions of voters that backed the party's candidate in 2020 proved pivotal during the tight recent race.
- A Decision to Run: The stubborn insistence by the incumbent to stay in the race, and a last-minute step-aside, is viewed as denying Democratic voters the chance for open primaries.
- Failing the Working-Class Base: While facing economic anxiety, the electoral effort reportedly accommodating corporate donors' interests while failing to challenge the role of profit-seeking.
- The Foreign Policy Factor: The failure to adjust an approach on a ongoing war allegedly caused losing key demographic groups, notably among young people, Arab American communities, Muslim voters.
- A Decline in Young Voter Backing: Research demonstrates a huge decrease in votes for the candidate among young voters.
A Pattern Shunning Scrutiny
Choosing secrecy aligns with a pattern of sidestepping difficult realities. It echoes a situation in which nearly all elected Democrat in Congress acquiesced to an incumbent's insistence on running for re-election right up until a poor public debate performance compelled a reversal.
Meanwhile, a significant majority of the electorate had been continually telling researchers that they did not want that candidate to run again.
Financial Issues
An honest report might also examine questions about campaign spending, such as the amounts flowed to high-priced advisors and advertising contractors during a campaign which expended a colossal sum over a few months.
A Underlying Implication
Ultimately, the blockage of the official autopsy is symptomatic of an allegiance toward the existing power structure responsible for an unsuccessful presidential campaign. The signal to ordinary supporters – which includes countless dedicated activists – is that they do not be trusted to know the lessons the insiders claim to have learned from hundreds of interviews based on feedback from all states.
A party unwilling to honestly assess where it went wrong finds it difficult to escape the cycle that proved so helpful to the winning candidate.
