There’s a good chance that Sanders would produce a wave election, millions of new voters checking the “D” box, if democrats would get behind him.
There’s also a better chance that Sanders would use more political leverage, because he is not beholden to the big-moneyed interests that sponsor the ‘bipartisan’ political establishment.
It would still be a long hard slog, it took almost 40 years for republicans (and Reagan democrats), along with republican-lites to get things as screwed up as they are.
That long hard slog will be even longer if we kill the excitement of young people who just so happen to be supporting and pushing for the same kind of platform democrats had before the Reagan democrats and the republican-lites screwed it up.
What are the odds of this effect lining up again? What are the odds of the people being able to finance a Sanders-type campaign again, especially if we get TPP which will outsource even more jobs, lowering the working class standard of living even more.
The Sanders campaign is the best hope that most young people see, that's why they are excited. And the ‘bipartisan' political establishment wants to nip that in the bud.