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This decision by the DNC to suppress the release regarding its internal post-election analysis concerning the 2024 election is remarkable yet entirely predictable. Averse to frank assessments, the party's leadership apparatus operates closer to a communications shop than an electoral entity focused on building a volunteer base capable of prevailing at the polls.

A Climate of Conformity

Reluctant to break with the party establishment's culture demanding unity, the DNC has continued under the Biden-Harris shadow all through this past year. Making public such a report would have indicated that party leaders actually want to encourage honest conversation regarding the strategic failures which allowed Donald Trump to become president again. Yet, the committee is acting under the pretense that there are no lessons to be learned following the stunning loss from the last cycle.

"Here’s our North Star: is this good for winning elections? Should the answer be negative, it becomes a sideline issue from our fundamental goal," a rationale which was presented to justify concealing the document.

Major Failures an Autopsy Would Have Addressed

Any valuable post-mortem of substance would confront a series of difficult topics. Among them are:

• Electoral Disengagement: The loss of millions of voters who supported the Democratic ticket in 2020 was decisive in the close recent race.
• The Insistence to Run: The stubborn insistence by a party leader to run again, coupled with a last-minute exit, is seen by some as denying Democratic voters of a genuine choice.
• Losing Touch With Core Democratic Voters: Amid economic anxiety, the electoral effort is criticized for accommodating corporate donors' interests without successfully attempting to confront the role of big business.
• A Foreign Policy Impact: The refusal to reconsider a policy position regarding a ongoing war allegedly caused losing key demographic groups, particularly with young people, Arab-Americans, Muslim voters.
• A Decline in Youth Allegiance: Extensive evidence demonstrates a major decline of votes for the candidate among voters aged 18-29.

A Pattern Shunning Scrutiny

Choosing secrecy fits a pattern of evading hard truths. It echoes a situation where nearly all Democratic officeholder in Congress acquiesced to an incumbent's decision for running for re-election until a catastrophic campaign event led to a reversal.

At the same time, a significant majority of Democratic voters had been repeatedly informing surveyors that they did not want that candidate to seek re-election.

Financial Concerns

An honest autopsy might also probe issues regarding financial allocations, such as how much money went to high-priced advisors as well as advertising contractors over the course of an electoral effort that managed to spend a staggering sum over a few months.

A Broader Issue

At its core, the secrecy of the official autopsy is symptomatic of a deference to party leaders responsible for an unsuccessful presidential campaign. The signal to rank-and-file members – which includes countless small donors – is that they do not have a right to understand what the leadership have learned based on a report drawing from conversations with insiders.

An organization unable to publicly examine where it went wrong is unlikely to escape the pattern which was so beneficial to the winning candidate.