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The move from the DNC to withhold the public viewing of its own post-election analysis on the 2024 election is shocking but not surprising. Resistant to unpleasant candor, the party's leadership apparatus behaves more like a PR firm than a political organization devoted to building local power to secure victories.

A Culture of Conformity

Hesitant to break with the party establishment's culture of conformity, the DNC has stayed within the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Publishing such a report would have indicated that party leaders actually want to encourage open debate regarding the strategic failures that enabled Donald Trump to become president again. Instead, the leadership is moving forward as if there is little to understand following the stunning loss from the last cycle.

"Here’s our North Star: is this good for winning elections? If not, it’s a distraction from our fundamental goal," a justification that has been offered for withholding the analysis.

Critical Problems an Autopsy Might Have Addressed

A genuine analysis with any value would confront a series of difficult topics. These include:

• Electoral Disenchantment: Failing to retain among millions of voters who supported the party's candidate in 2020 proved pivotal in the narrowly decided recent race.
• A Insistence to Run: The unwavering decision of the incumbent to seek re-election, coupled with a very late exit, is viewed as denying the party's base of a competitive nomination process.
• Losing Touch With Everyday Americans: Amid economic anxiety, the electoral effort allegedly ceding to powerful financial backers while failing to confront the effects of corporate greed.
• The Gaza Factor: The failure to reconsider an approach on a ongoing war is cited as losing key demographic groups, notably among young people, Arab American communities, and Muslim Americans.
• Losing Young Voter Backing: Extensive evidence indicates a huge drop-off of votes for the candidate from voters aged 18-29.

A Record Avoiding Accountability

The decision to withhold aligns with a recurring tendency to avoid hard truths. It recalls a dynamic where the vast majority of elected Democrat in Congress acquiesced to a sitting president's insistence on running for re-election right up until a poor public debate performance forced a reversal.

At the same time, large majorities of Democratic voters had been repeatedly informing researchers of their opposition to that candidate to run again.

Campaign Spending Concerns

A thorough analysis might also investigate matters about where money went, including how much money flowed to party strategists and advertising contractors during a campaign that managed to spend an enormous sum in a short period.

The Broader Issue

Fundamentally, the secrecy of the official autopsy points to an allegiance toward party leaders responsible for a disastrous electoral effort. The implication to the party's base – including millions of dedicated activists – appears to be that they do not be trusted to understand the lessons party chiefs claim to have learned from hundreds of interviews compiled from conversations with insiders.

A political entity unable to critically review its mistakes will struggle to escape the pattern that ended up being so helpful to the winning candidate.