This decision by the Democratic National Committee to withhold the publication regarding its own post-election analysis on the last presidential race appears stunning yet to be expected. Resistant to unpleasant candor, the party's leadership apparatus often functions closer to a PR firm than a political organization devoted to cultivating a volunteer base for winning elections.
A Culture of Conformity
Hesitant to challenge the prevailing attitude demanding unity, the DNC has continued under that legacy throughout this past year. Releasing such a report would have indicated whether the leadership truly desire to encourage public discourse about the errors that paved the way for Donald Trump to become president again. Instead, the DNC is proceeding as if there is little to understand from the tragic debacle from the last cycle.
Our guiding principle: does this help us win? If the answer is no, it becomes a sideline issue from what truly matters," an explanation that has been offered to justify concealing the document.
Critical Problems an Analysis Would Have Addressed
An autopsy report with any value would confront key points of failure. This encompasses:
- Voter Disenchantment: Losing of a significant portion of the electorate who supported the Democratic ticket during the previous election proved pivotal during the tight recent race.
- The Choice to Seek Re-election: The stubborn decision of a party leader to stay in the race, and a last-minute step-aside, has been criticized as robbing the party's base the chance for a competitive nomination process.
- Losing Touch With Core Democratic Voters: During a time of rising costs, the electoral effort is criticized for accommodating powerful financial backers and not managing to address the impact of corporate greed.
- The Foreign Policy Impact: The refusal to adjust a policy position concerning a major international conflict allegedly caused driving away many voters, especially among youth voters, Arab-Americans, Muslim voters.
- A Decline in Young Voter Allegiance: Extensive evidence indicates a huge decrease of votes for the candidate from the youth electorate.
A Record Shunning Scrutiny
Choosing secrecy aligns with a pattern of sidestepping hard truths. It echoes an episode where nearly all elected Democrat in Congress went along with an incumbent's decision for seeking another term until a disastrous campaign event forced a change.
Meanwhile, large majorities of the electorate were continually telling researchers that they opposed the incumbent to run again.
Campaign Spending Issues
A substantive report might also probe issues regarding campaign spending, including how much money flowed to party strategists as well as advertising contractors over the course of an electoral effort that managed to spend an enormous sum over a few months.
The Larger Issue
At its core, the suppression of the official autopsy highlights a deference to the existing power structure who engineered an unsuccessful national race. The implication to rank-and-file members – including millions of small donors – appears to be that they do not be trusted to know the lessons the leadership have learned from hundreds of interviews drawing from conversations with insiders.
A party unable to honestly assess its mistakes is unlikely to climb out of the pattern that proved so helpful to the winning candidate.
