If someone in the Democratic party did turn himself on a personal level into something capable of going good things, why would you want to emphasize how shit he was 30 years ago?
Much better than shit is still a far cry from being ready to deal with a rising fascist movement. I knew it would be a disaster the moment Biden won the 2020 primary. Still, he did surprise me in a whole lot of positive ways, and credit where credit is due.
Speaking only of winning elections and nothing else, the problem the Democrats have electorally is that there is no way to package and sell their neoliberalism. To a right minded policy wonk, Democrats are always the right choice, but most voters aren't policy wonks.
Getting elected requires a strong narrative. The story Democrats offer is "history is over and it's all minor improvements from here". That works OK when things are good, but when people are struggling it comes across very differently. Hillary's "America is already great!" is a perfect example, but she has a real nack for being out of touch. The only time Democrats have a narrative is when Republicans do something awful, which requires Republicans to be in power. This, we keep flipping parties.
Trump's narrative in 2024 looked a whole lot more like the classic hero's journey than I have seen in 50 years. Attacked relentlessly from all sides with his demise predicted constantly, he somehow kept moving forward. Meanwhile, I don't know what the hell to make of Kamala's story.
The usual split is a lot less dramatic but, Republicans always have a narrative with heroes and villains, and Democrats rarely do. People want to know why productivity goes up and up and life just keeps getting harder. The Republicans offer an answer, it's the immigrants, or it's trans people in the showers with your kid, or it's DEI treating you unfairly. Democrats have a much better and truer answer, but they won't articulate it because the oligarchs who fund them won't like it. So, the answer from Democrats is a whimper.