Ross has a column in today’s NYT in which he basically argues that Sanders doesn’t really want to be President because he isn’t willing to rake Hillary Clinton’s muck. By saying that, he betrays his lack of understanding of the basis for the Sanders campaign.
One of the most attractive things about Bernie is that he isn’t running for President because he needs an ego boost; he is running purely because he has a specific left-wing policy agenda that he wants to implement. He understands perfectly that he can’t get the agenda through Congress even if he wins the election unless he can mobilize the support of millions of disaffected voters to change the balance of power in both houses, as well. Hence the emphasis on the “Sanders Revolution;” without the revolution, electoral victory is pointless.
Personal attacks on Hillary don’t move the revolution forward; they only help Republicans (that is, in all likelihood, what is really motivating Douthat). Don’t expect Sanders to deviate much from this approach in the coming months.