Bernie* would've won; Bernie will win.
*Also the product of the abovementioned undergraduate institution.
In real life Bernie never got to the general election and will be 76 in 2020.
Perhaps what worked against Sanders more than anything was, he became a registered Democrat to run for President. No major party is going to fall in line with someone who 2 years earlier wasn't a member / fund raiser / or even a party voice. It is to his credit and his surprise he did as well as he did.
Colin Powell comes to mind. Neither Sanders or Powell brings the resume DDE brought in 1952
That is just the reality of the situation.
Looking at Bernie candidates around the country none have fared as well as hoped.
It is the policies not the personality.
In this case too -- if you can't win on policy resort to politics and if politics fails go to the personal.
Sanders is just not as popular as David Brooks people think. For a lots of reasons.
I agree with you in that he would be a great President, if he was 55 or 60 years old and had time to build coalitions
inside the party. HRC had those coalitions -- isn't that the name of politics? Look at Brexit in England PM May oman is struggling to stay in power because --- she is having a hard time finding people to coalesce around her.
That is the same reason Trump was bound to fail -- no coalition. At least of our citizenry