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The decision by the DNC to block the publication of its own autopsy report on the last presidential race seems shocking yet entirely predictable. Averse to hard truths, the party's leadership apparatus behaves more like a PR firm rather than a political organization devoted to building local power capable of prevailing at the polls.

A Culture of Conformity

Reluctant to depart from the party establishment's culture demanding unity, the committee has stayed within the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Publishing the findings might have shown whether the leadership truly desire to promote public discourse regarding the errors that paved the way for Donald Trump to become president again. Instead, the DNC is proceeding as if there's nothing to glean following the stunning loss from the last cycle.

"Here’s our North Star: will this lead to victory? Should the answer be negative, it becomes a sideline issue from our fundamental goal," a rationale reportedly given for withholding the analysis.

Major Failures an Autopsy Might Have Addressed

Any valuable post-mortem worth its salt would not dodge a series of difficult topics. Among them are:

• Voter Disenchantment: The loss of a significant portion of the electorate who voted for the Democratic ticket in 2020 proved pivotal in the narrowly decided 2024 election.
• The Decision to Seek Re-election: The stubborn choice of a party leader to stay in the race, coupled with a last-minute withdrawal, is viewed as robbing the party's base the chance for a genuine choice.
• Abandoning the Working-Class Base: Amid inflation, the campaign allegedly accommodating powerful financial backers and not managing to confront the role of profit-seeking.
• A Gaza Impact: An unwillingness to shift an approach on a ongoing war is cited as losing significant blocs, notably among youth voters, Arab-Americans, Muslim voters.
• A Decline in Youth Allegiance: Polling data demonstrates a major drop-off in Democratic support among the youth electorate.

A History of Evasion

The decision to withhold aligns with a pattern of sidestepping hard truths. It recalls a situation in which virtually every elected Democrat in Congress supported a sitting president's insistence on running for re-election right up until a catastrophic campaign event led to a reversal.

Meanwhile, overwhelming numbers of the electorate were consistently telling surveyors of their opposition to the incumbent to be the nominee.

Financial Issues

An honest analysis could examine issues regarding campaign spending, such as how much money were directed to high-priced advisors and media firms over the course of a campaign that managed to spend a staggering amount in a short period.

The Broader Issue

At its core, the blockage of the official autopsy points to a submission to party leaders that oversaw a disastrous national race. The implication to rank-and-file members – which includes countless loyal volunteers – appears to be that they do not have a right to understand the lessons the insiders say they discovered based on a report drawing from extensive interviews.

An organization unwilling to publicly examine where it went wrong finds it difficult to climb out of the rut that proved so helpful to the winning candidate.