I fully intended to do a year-end thumbsucker post reviewing the baleful consequences of George W. Bush’s re-election, and the increasingly obvious dysfunction of his Republican Party. But it’s hard to blog when you’re wheezing and coughing and subsisting on NyQuil and antibiotics. I rang in the New Year sound asleep, and today I am hiding from a cold, rainy day in Central Virginia (as is the fog-shrouded Blue Ridge a few miles from here) and awaiting tonight’s Sugar Bowl.In this state of mind, any thoughts I have about the upcoming year are dominated by the depressing realization that Bush’s second term has three more years to run, accompanied by my Eeyore-like fears about Democrats’ ability to walk (make major gains next November) and chew gum (set the table for victory in 2008) at the same time.I can only hope that in a day or two I will feel better, the mountains will reappear, the world will look more promising, and the Donkey Party will kick off this new year with an intelligent strategy for reclaiming power.