The decision from the DNC to withhold the public viewing regarding its internal post-election analysis concerning the last presidential race appears shocking however not surprising. Resistant to frank assessments, the party's leadership apparatus behaves more like a communications shop rather than an electoral entity committed to cultivating local power for winning elections.
A Culture Resistant to Internal Critique
Unwilling to challenge the party establishment's culture demanding unity, the committee has remained under the influence of the previous administration throughout this past year. Publishing the findings would have indicated whether the leadership are interested to promote public discourse about the missteps that paved the way for the former president to win re-election. Yet, the leadership is moving forward under the pretense that there are no lessons to be learned from the electoral catastrophe from the last cycle.
Our guiding principle: is this good for winning elections? If the answer is no, it is an unnecessary diversion from our fundamental goal," an explanation that has been offered to justify concealing the report.
Key Issues an Analysis Might Have Examined
A genuine analysis worth its salt would not dodge a series of difficult topics. This encompasses:
- Electoral Disenchantment: Failing to retain of millions of voters who supported the party's candidate during the previous election became a critical factor in the narrowly decided recent race.
- The Decision to Run: The stubborn decision by a party leader to run again, coupled with a very late withdrawal, has been criticized as denying Democratic voters of open primaries.
- Failing Everyday Americans: During a time of inflation, the electoral effort allegedly bowing to elite contributors and not managing to address the role of profit-seeking.
- A Foreign Policy Impact: The refusal to shift a stance on a major international conflict is cited as losing key demographic groups, notably with young people, Arab American communities, Muslim voters.
- Eroding Young Voter Support: Research shows a huge drop-off in votes for the candidate from young voters.
A Pattern Avoiding Accountability
Choosing secrecy fits a longstanding habit of sidestepping difficult realities. This mirrors a situation where nearly all Democratic officeholder in Congress went along with an incumbent's insistence on seeking another term right up until a catastrophic campaign event forced a change.
Concurrently, overwhelming numbers of Democratic voters were repeatedly informing researchers that they did not want that candidate to seek re-election.
Campaign Spending Concerns
A substantive analysis might also investigate questions regarding campaign spending, including how much money went to high-priced advisors and ad buyers over the course of an electoral effort which expended an enormous sum in a short period.
A Broader Issue
At its core, the secrecy surrounding this report is symptomatic of a deference to the existing power structure that oversaw a losing national race. The message for ordinary supporters – including millions of small donors – appears to be that they cannot have a right to see what the insiders have learned based on hundreds of interviews drawing from conversations with insiders.
A party unwilling to critically review where it went wrong finds it difficult to climb out of the cycle that proved so helpful to the winning candidate.
