Hey, I'm just glad someone read my comment lol...
What is a party if not just a group of people with similar values? Change the values of the Democratic party from within (which I believe is already happening, especially with all the ancients dying off) to the type of party that realizes when they need to start grooming new candidates sooner.
Easier said than done, sure. Young people need to show that they are a voting bloc that demands to be taken seriously, but that can't happen until they actually start voting. It's kind of infuriating. That's really the thing that could begin fixing all of this, and yet... Who knows, maybe Taylor Swift will throw a wrench in things and get enough young folks involved.
As for Obama, maybe he was a once in a lifetime phenomenon, I don't know... But like you said, the DNC didn't even want him. He was a black guy with an Arab name, but he had the money and power of the DNC (and, I believe at that time Howard Dean in charge who actually knew how to get progressives elected up and down ballot. Could be wrong though, it might have been after he lost his career for getting a little too excited), and that allowed him to mobilize people who had never thought about voting before.
That's what we need again. We need to start bringing up young, charismatic progressives from state and local politics, and give them the money and support they need to get their message (which, let's not forget, is correct) to those types Obama mobilized back in 08.
We should have been doing this for years already. In fact, I would say Howard Dean's removal as chair of the DNC especially doomed the party to years of tepid neiliberalism.
We need another Howard Dean running the DNC and we need it yesterday.