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The move from the Democratic National Committee to withhold the release of its own autopsy report concerning the 2024 election is shocking yet to be expected. Resistant to hard truths, the Democrats' governing body operates more like a publicity machine rather than a political organization committed to building grassroots capacities capable of prevailing at the polls.

A Climate of Conformity

Unwilling to challenge the prevailing attitude of conformity, the DNC has stayed under the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Releasing such a report might have shown whether party leaders are interested to foster public discourse regarding the strategic failures which allowed the former president to return to the White House. Instead, the committee is acting as if there are no lessons to be learned from the electoral catastrophe from the last cycle.

Our guiding principle: will this lead to victory? Should the answer be negative, it’s a distraction from the core mission," a rationale which was presented to justify concealing the document.

Major Failures an Analysis Might Have Explored

A genuine analysis worth its salt would not dodge a series of difficult topics. These include:

• Voter Disenchantment: Failing to retain among a significant portion of the electorate that backed the Democratic ticket in 2020 became a critical factor in the narrowly decided recent race.
• A Decision to Run: The stubborn insistence by the incumbent to seek re-election, and a very late exit, is viewed as denying the party's base the chance for a genuine choice.
• Losing Touch With Core Democratic Voters: Amid economic anxiety, the campaign is criticized for ceding to powerful financial backers while failing to address the impact of big business.
• The Foreign Policy Impact: The failure to adjust an approach regarding the situation in Gaza allegedly caused alienating significant blocs, especially with youth voters, Arab-Americans, Muslim voters.
• Losing Young Voter Support: Research shows a huge drop-off of Democratic support from young voters.

A Pattern Avoiding Accountability

This refusal fits a longstanding habit of evading difficult realities. It recalls a dynamic in which virtually every elected Democrat in Washington acquiesced to an incumbent's insistence on running for re-election right up until a disastrous campaign event compelled a reversal.

At the same time, a significant majority within the party's base had been continually telling surveyors that they did not want the incumbent to be the nominee.

Campaign Spending Questions

An honest analysis could investigate issues regarding where money went, including how much money went to high-priced advisors and advertising contractors over the course of an electoral effort that burned through a colossal war chest over a few months.

A Larger Implication

At its core, the suppression regarding the analysis is symptomatic of a submission toward party leaders that oversaw an unsuccessful national race. The signal to rank-and-file members – including millions of small donors – is that they do not be trusted to understand the lessons the insiders have learned from a report based on extensive interviews.

A political entity incapable to publicly examine its own failings is unlikely to escape the cycle that proved so advantageous to the rival party.