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The move from the Democratic National Committee to suppress the release regarding its own autopsy report concerning the last presidential race appears stunning but to be expected. Resistant to hard truths, the Democrats' governing body operates closer to a publicity machine rather than a political organization focused on building grassroots capacities capable of prevailing at the polls.

An Environment of Conformity

Reluctant to depart from the prevailing attitude of conformity, the DNC has remained under the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Publishing an official autopsy might have shown that the leadership are interested to foster public discourse regarding the errors which allowed the former president to become president again. However, the committee is acting under the pretense that there's nothing to understand following the tragic debacle from the last cycle.

"Here’s our North Star: does this help us win? If the answer is no, it becomes a sideline issue from our fundamental goal," a rationale reportedly given for withholding the document.

Major Failures an Autopsy Could Have Explored

An autopsy report of substance would not dodge key points of failure. These include:

• Voter Disengagement: Losing among a significant portion of the electorate who voted for the party's candidate during the previous election became a critical factor during the tight 2024 election.
• A Choice to Run: The determined insistence by the incumbent to seek re-election, and a very late step-aside, has been criticized as denying Democratic voters of a genuine choice.
• Abandoning Everyday Americans: During a time of economic anxiety, the campaign allegedly ceding to powerful financial backers while failing to confront the effects of profit-seeking.
• The Foreign Policy Impact: The failure to shift a stance on a major international conflict reportedly led to driving away many voters, particularly among young people, Arab-Americans, and Muslim Americans.
• Losing Youth Support: Research indicates a major decline in support for the party among voters aged 18-29.

A Pattern of Evasion

Choosing secrecy fits a longstanding habit to avoid difficult realities. It echoes a situation where nearly all Democratic officeholder in Congress supported an incumbent's insistence on seeking another term right up until a catastrophic campaign event compelled an exit.

At the same time, large majorities of the electorate were repeatedly informing pollsters that they did not want that candidate to run again.

Financial Concerns

An honest analysis might also investigate questions about campaign spending, including how much money went to party strategists as well as media firms during an electoral effort which expended a colossal war chest during the general election.

The Broader Problem

At its core, the blockage of the official autopsy points to a submission to the existing power structure that oversaw a losing national race. The signal to rank-and-file members – which includes countless small donors – is that they cannot be trusted to see the lessons the insiders claim to have learned from hundreds of interviews drawing from extensive interviews.

A party unwilling to critically review its mistakes is unlikely to break free from the rut that ended up being so helpful to the winning candidate.