America’s chances of electing a decent successor to President Bush, which seemed tangible after the nation voted in a Democratic Congress in 2006, died this week after a long battle with Hillary Clinton, an acute political virus. It was not yet 3 years old.

The deceased was born from the ashes of the 2004 presidential election, although its exact date and birthplace are unknown. It entered the nation’s consciousness as the electorate was jolted into political awakeness by the images of the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina. Americans became unified in a need for action, and they spoke of change.

Nurtured by criticism of the Bush Administration and the G.O.P., the deceased came of age as its nemesis, America’s likelihood of electing another Republican president, grew weak. It gained confidence as the Mark Foleys, Scooter Libbys and Alberto Gonzaleses of the country were exposed for their evils and plucked from power.

Those who knew the deceased well say they remember believing it would live a long and fulfilling life. Brimming with the hopes and aspirations inborn in any good ole’ American, it instinctively left its hometown to explore opportunities ahead in New Hampshire and Iowa. Pundits sang their praises. Barack Obama declared candidacy. Al Gore won an Oscar. Americans were concerned about global warming, about the uninsured, about national debt.

But it was not to be. America’s chances slowly succumbed to disease. Hillary Clinton, an acute political virus, latched on and grew in strength and money. At first she appeared benign, replicating within America’s cells and gaining momentum because she was a woman named “Clinton.” It became clear, however, that she was using her platform for her own benefit and she cared more for her political career than for America’s future. She made herself plain when she admitted she didn’t read intelligence reports given to Congress before authorizing the Iraq War. But by then there was no cure. The virus spread as Hillary Clinton voted again to give in to the president’s plans, this time in Iran, a move disregarding common sense designed to make her X chromosome look more like a Y.

The virus showed its ugliness every time Hillary Clinton made a calculated step, every time she equivocated in candid situations. Meanwhile, Obama failed to be the remedy everyone expected. Democrats questioned how he could stand up to Iran if he could not stand up to Hillary Clinton.

A few hopefuls still believed in a miracle: that Al Gore would run. But even as the former vice president and inventor of the Internet clutched his newly won Nobel Prize, Gore firmly ruled out an ’08 candidacy. For the deceased, those words would mark the end of its short life.

America’s chance of being led by a decent president next term is survived by its cousin, the nation’s shot at a Democratic president, at the very least