The action by the Democratic National Committee to block the release regarding its own post-election analysis on the last presidential race is remarkable yet entirely predictable. Opposed to unpleasant candor, the DNC behaves closer to a publicity machine rather than an electoral entity committed to building grassroots capacities to secure victories.
A Climate Resistant to Internal Critique
Unwilling to break with the party establishment's culture demanding unity, the DNC has remained within that legacy all through this past year. Making public such a report could have demonstrated whether party leaders are interested to encourage public discourse about the strategic failures which allowed the former president to become president again. Instead, the committee is acting as if there's nothing to understand from the electoral catastrophe from the last cycle.
"Here’s our North Star: is this good for winning elections? Should the answer be negative, it becomes a sideline issue from what truly matters," a rationale reportedly given for withholding the document.
Key Issues a Report Could Have Addressed
Any valuable post-mortem of substance would tackle head-on a series of difficult topics. Among them are:
- Electoral Alienation: Failing to retain of a significant portion of the electorate that backed the Democratic ticket during the previous election became a critical factor during the tight recent race.
- A Insistence to Seek Re-election: The determined choice of the incumbent to run again, and a last-minute step-aside, is viewed as denying Democratic voters of a competitive nomination process.
- Failing Core Democratic Voters: Amid rising costs, the campaign reportedly bowing to powerful financial backers while failing to address the effects of big business.
- The Foreign Policy Effect: The failure to adjust a policy position concerning a major international conflict allegedly caused driving away significant blocs, especially among youth voters, Arab-Americans, and Muslim Americans.
- Losing Youth Support: Polling data demonstrates a significant decrease of Democratic support among the youth electorate.
A History Avoiding Accountability
Choosing secrecy fits a longstanding habit of evading uncomfortable facts. This mirrors a dynamic in which virtually every elected Democrat in Washington went along with a sitting president's decision for seeking another term right up until a disastrous public debate performance compelled a change.
Concurrently, a significant majority of the electorate had been continually telling researchers of their opposition to the incumbent to seek re-election.
Financial Issues
A thorough autopsy might also probe issues about where money went, such as the amounts went to insider consultants as well as advertising contractors over the course of a campaign which expended an enormous war chest during the general election.
A Underlying Implication
Fundamentally, the secrecy of the official autopsy points to an allegiance to the existing power structure that oversaw an unsuccessful electoral effort. The message to ordinary supporters – including millions of loyal volunteers – is that they cannot have a right to understand what party chiefs have learned based on a report based on extensive interviews.
A party unable to honestly assess its mistakes is unlikely to escape the cycle that proved so advantageous to their opponents.
