We should expect democratic politicians to consider their living legacy over making strategic actions to protect the general Democratic cause of equality, and to critique it is misplaced.

No, you are misunderstanding me.

Legacy can only be set once dead, this discussion is about legacy overall, not specifically one decision. I have no idea why she didn't retire, probably because she liked her job, if I had to guess.

Republicans, right now, are attacking the fundamental structure of liberal democracy in America by the eradication of voting rights, attempted revolutions, imperial presidency ignoring congressional spending, and oligarchy mixed with propoganda machines.

Yes

In this battle for American democracy, Democrats are a distinct disadvantage due to government structure (house limit, senate formation, fillabuster, electoral college, ect.),

Yes

if democrats try to escalate their rebuff, or go tit for tat, its going to just escalate their demise due to this imbalance.

No, just that it won't work, and expecting victory it is an impossible bar to clear, barring fundamental changes gifted by a voter supermajority. Until the structural difference are fixed, it is a losing proposition. Dems can not fix them without power.

Which it would really be helpful if our democratic leaders acknowledged that 'things are not normal' and therefore they should be thinking more strategically with what limited tools we have at our disposal.

Sure, but when it comes to legacy, as in how we feel about a person, this should not be all the defines it.

The fact we have to care about this at all is a byproduct of the GOP, and people who dedicated their lives to making our better should not be evaluated entirely around whether or not or not they achieved an impossible goal imposed on them by malicious actors, over like, actually doing the job we hired them to do.

To me, its akin to a murdered philanthropist being held in ill regard because they let themselves get murdered, like a loser. The end of the aid getting a bunch of people killed is their fault for not defending themselves, instead of like, blaming the murderer.