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The action by the DNC to withhold the publication of its own autopsy report on the 2024 election seems shocking but entirely predictable. Resistant to unpleasant candor, the DNC often functions closer to a publicity machine than an electoral entity devoted to cultivating grassroots capacities for winning elections.

A Climate Resistant to Internal Critique

Reluctant to depart from the party establishment's culture of conformity, the committee has stayed within the Biden-Harris shadow all through this past year. Publishing an official autopsy would have indicated whether the leadership truly desire to foster public discourse about the strategic failures that paved the way for the former president to win re-election. Yet, the leadership is moving forward under the pretense that there is little to glean following the electoral catastrophe of 2024.

The top priority: is this good for winning elections? If the answer is no, it is an unnecessary diversion from the core mission," a rationale reportedly given for withholding the report.

Major Failures a Report Could Have Addressed

A genuine analysis with any value would tackle head-on certain uncomfortable matters. Among them are:

• Electoral Alienation: The loss of millions of voters who voted for the Democratic ticket in 2020 was decisive in the narrowly decided recent race.
• The Insistence to Seek Re-election: The determined decision by a party leader to stay in the race, coupled with an extremely delayed step-aside, has been criticized as robbing Democratic voters of open primaries.
• Failing Everyday Americans: Amid economic anxiety, the campaign reportedly ceding to powerful financial backers and not managing to confront the role of corporate greed.
• A Gaza Factor: The failure to reconsider a policy position regarding a major international conflict allegedly caused losing significant blocs, notably with youth voters, Arab American communities, Muslim voters.
• Eroding Youth Allegiance: Research demonstrates a major decrease in support for the party from the youth electorate.

A Record Shunning Scrutiny

The decision to withhold aligns with a pattern of sidestepping uncomfortable facts. It echoes a dynamic where nearly all Democratic officeholder in Washington went along with a sitting president's insistence on running for re-election right up until a disastrous televised debate led to a reversal.

At the same time, overwhelming numbers of the electorate had been repeatedly informing researchers of their opposition to that candidate to seek re-election.

Campaign Spending Questions

An honest autopsy could probe questions regarding campaign spending, such as how much money flowed to high-priced advisors and ad buyers over the course of an electoral effort that burned through a colossal war chest in a short period.

A Broader Implication

Ultimately, the secrecy regarding the analysis is symptomatic of an allegiance toward the established hierarchy that oversaw a losing national race. The implication for the party's base – including countless loyal volunteers – is that they cannot have a right to understand what the leadership say they discovered from an analysis based on conversations with insiders.

An organization incapable to critically review its own failings will struggle to escape the rut that ended up being so beneficial to the rival party.