I don’t really see Bernie and Obama’s enduring support as having a similar character, even if there is some overlap in who those people are.
Obama, in retrospect was always sort of a “cult of personality” as much or more so than any love of him for any policy preferences. A lot of his support, especially the longer he was in office, was prefaced on how smart, articulate, loved his kids, how great Michelle is, etc. It also helped that he was a gifted orator in a two person primary where his main opponent was nothing but a hot blonde with a thiccc ass, a school marm personality, and a hot Muslim assistant. Very few people were like”Man he’s done great things with drone strikes!” Or “I love how the ACA has been implemented, health care is awesome now!” I think his relatively progressive positions where great in the primary, but he largely didn’t deliver on the rhetoric once he took office.... he was just always a handsome guy that people thought was cool. Ironic in a way that he is more of a celebrity President than an actual President who was a celebrity President first.
Bernie doesn’t really have that, he’s got his 5 pet issues and take it or leave it. There’s not a lot of fluff. I couldn’t even really tell you much about his personal life other than he’s Jewish, was married twice, wrote a great porn book, and I think he has at least one son. The way that I would say he won the most is in how he has managed to shift the conversation so far. Almost everybody had to at least adopt his framing on issues like healthcare specifically. I don’t think it’s unfair to think that some other candidates might be better equipped to deliver on those promises though.
