you're just scratching the surface of the issue though. go just one layer deeper: what is the reason the progressive platform has 'underwhelmed'? is it because progressive IDEAS and goals are rejected? hardly. bernie's 2016 campaign actually shifted the entire democratic platform to at least pander to progressivism.
i'd argue it's because of a massive campaign to discredit the policies to implement them. fearmongering about 'socialism', and suggesting bernie's ideas are 'crazy, too radical, and unrealistic' (even though they work fine in the rest of the world, and are accepted by both right and left wing parties) play a large role with such an uninformed and divided electorate. spreading the ridiculous 'electability' narrative, in order to dissuade people from supporting progressives out of fear of 4 more years of trump is also a big factor - as is, of course, the abysmal turnout from the generations that stands to lose the most. idiots.

is this primary a true vote on two equally specific and serious PLANS to solve the underlying issues, or is it much more a race between a relentlessly maligned candidate, promoting policies and values he's advocated for decades, going against the vague promises of someone acting like they had solutions that could unite the (artificially) divided country without any drawbacks (even though his political record unmistakenly illustrates that he will never defy his donors, who don't want ANY of that), who is being supported by his party's extremely powerful establishment, the media (that is controlled by and dependent on the same corporations), who never has his record and promises questioned and examined?

in order for your 'argument', which is exclusively about optics, to make sense, you'd have to assume that people who are fooled by / scared into / just used to voting like this, could be tricked the same way into supporting progressive causes, if they just avoided the look of 'losing'. what that talking point ignores, however, is that those causes simply don't have the infrastructure to run such a large scale misinformation and propaganda scheme. lobbyists made sure this corruption would be protected by those who craft and pass laws.

so i would argue that trying to win over those who actually care about substance, and want the system to change, to work for the people again, is the most promising approach. platforming progressive ideas on the national stage, and exposing the corrupt establishment and biased media, is the only way to open people's eyes and generate any meaningful support. just withdrawing and exclusively letting lobbyists frame the political discourse, does not sound like a long term winning strategy to me.
could you maybe describe the kind of person who you think would support progressive causes, but will not do so just because bernie doesn't immediately drop out when the dnc wants him to? that's what i meant by 'reality based argument' earlier. to me that just sounds like the figment of some spin doctor's imagination, just another dishonest way to malign a progressive candidate and push him out of the race.

This post was edited by fender on Mar 17 2020 03:30pm

Bernie is much misaligned by his own doing as well. He had a lot of good opportunities to attack Biden and win in more convincing fashion in their 1 on 1 debate, but did not capitalize because he got hung up on arguing semantics instead of driving home the message. Bernie has had the opportunity to expand his base with several candidates that could improve his platform such as; Andrew Yang, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg. When his base is attacking Yang supporters, is it really a shock when they are estranged?

I'm not personally of the belief that socialism is bad, in fact I understand that socialism with automation as an end game is quite good for society advancing together. I just don't believe in Bernie anymore, stating again that I did vote for him in 2016.

Initial rumors that Bernie dropout is imminent
He has suspending his facebook campaign ads, which has preceded every candidate dropping out
announcement could be any minute now

Time to ride off into the sunset knowing that he pushed the party to where it is, significantly to the left and towards a more equitable and free society.

i must say as a bernie hater its been a real pleasure to watch expectations for success slip in real time.

from 2016 where bernie as robbed and it was said he wouldnt have lost to trump, to 2020 where it was said he was the only one to beat trump, his early success and cries that M4A was a matter of time, to him now being nothing more than an inspiration.

extremists outside of the party's center should always be just that, inspiration. trump, yang, bernie, etc.

At his best I don't think I would have ever given Bernie more than a 20% chance of winning. He's a party outsider, even if he had managed to get a small delegate lead it wouldn't have mattered since it would crumble to party shenanigans. He was never going to get a lead so strong that it forced the party's hand in nominating him.

you're very realistic then. reading bernie bro subreddits for the last years has exposed me to people so outside of reality they cant even understand a center left perspective, let alone a center perspective, let alone reality.

Echo chambers are a hell of a drug

it's just funny how they can at the same time recognize the party/establishment doesnt want him, that he was robbed in 2016, and still maintain such high hopes.

Bernie more relaistic than Yang; that doesn't mean I didn't hope.