The Democratic National Committee released its “autopsy” examining the party’s major loss in the 2014 midterm election, and the main perception of the report is that it doesn’t say much.
The report — which stands nine pages thick including a front and back cover — seems rather hollow, especially when one considers the fact that the Republican autopsy report following the 2012 election was a whopping 100 pages in length.
Unsurprisingly, the DNC is now facing some criticism for the report.
DNC autopsy 9 pages? At this pace they’ll have figured out what went wrong sometime in 2017.
— Reince Priebus (@Reince) February 21, 2015
the #DNCautopsy reads more like a political party’s obituary
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) February 21, 2015
Just read summary of DNC task force on what went wrong for them. Didn’t say much. And it avoided biggest issue: How OFA gutted the DNC
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) February 21, 2015
The typo-ridden report, composed by the DNC’s Victory Task Force, makes “recommendations” for the party going forward, which include things like strengthening the DNC’s relationship with parties at the state level, standing up for voting rights, and building “the Democratic bench.”
The Task Force also makes the surprising observation that people don’t quite know for what the Democratic Party stands.
“There is no single narrative that unites all of our work and the issues that we care about as a community of Democrats,” declares the report. “It is strongly believed that the Democratic Party is loosely understood as a long list of policy statements and not as people with a common set of core values (fairness, equality, opportunity). This lack of cohesive narrative impedes the party’s ability to develop and maintain a lifelong dialogue and partnership with voters.”
The Task Force’s solution to such an expansive problem is for the party to create a “National Narrative Project” that would solicit the help from activists and leaders to develop a “strong values-based national narrative.” Unfortunately, there is no further elaboration on the details of such a “narrative” or the party’s plan to implement it.
One would think the DNC would need more than a one-sentence solution to such a vast (and seemingly insurmountable) issue if they want to have any more luck in 2016 than they did last November.
“This morning we’re going to hear some tough love, and frankly we need to hear it,” DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Saturday amid the report’s release.
Be careful what you wish for.
H/T Bloomberg
