As the President and his family head off for their summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard for nine sun-filled days, he will have about 1,250 days left in his second term and less than a few months to get any meaningful legislation accomplished before the 2014 mid-terms totally eclipse his agenda.
Hopefully POTUS will have a nice break with his family because when he returns, even while Congress is still away until the second week in September, he faces a series of challenges as he works out his strategy to: implement and preserve Obamacare, pass some form of meaningful immigration reform, pass a budget to fund the government and avoid a shutdown, raise the debt ceiling to avoid a default on U.S. Debt and last but not least, do something meaningful about jobs before the mid-terms get underway and Democrats are forced to shoulder their share of the blame at the polls.
When everyone returns in September, Mr Obama will also be forced to focus on keeping control of the Senate in Democratic hands (which will now be harder than ever) and picking up more seats in the House of Representatives.
If he is unsuccessful with these political endeavours in the mid-terms, his legacy will then rest only upon the accomplishments of his first term in office.
Any real second term legislative success will be difficult if not impossible to achieve with a Congress that remains this polarized or one that could get a lot worse.
Before Congress heads off for vacation, the president is huddling with House and Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill most likely to hash out a party-wide strategy on the economy, the roll-out of the central part of his health care law and of course on their joint 2014 Mid-Term Strategy.
President Obama met with his former rival - now friend - the prior Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for an al fresco "friendship lunch" at the White House.
This invitation came from President Obama himself.
No doubt their chat included the 2014 mid-terms, since retaining control of the Democratic Senate and possibly re-taking control in the House are two goals these two Democratic luncheon partners share.
Mr Obama needs to accomplish these tasks if he hopes to have any chance of passing additional legislation in his second term and Hillary needs these successes as well if she plans to make a presidential run in 2016.
If Barack and Hills join forces on the mid-term campaign trail they will be a formidable force - and watch out GOP!
Hillary also had breakfast with her friend and potential presidential rival VP Joe Biden.
One can only guess the topics they discussed - and one they did not.
This week also marks the last real work week for Congress before the August recess.
Once again, Congress has accomplished very little - earning its extremely low ratings from the American people.
The House of Representatives will not vote on the Immigration Bill passed by the Senate before they depart town.
Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's schedule for the week did not include a vote on an Immigration Bill.
Instead, the House works on a 2014 spending bill and several bills aimed at increasing government accountability before they skip town for their five-week recess that will last until 9 September.
All of these Members will be heading home where they will undoubtedly have to answer to their constituents for their lack of any real legislative accomplishments.
Some here in DC wonder if this is the worst relationship between a president and a Congress ever.
Historically speaking, this may in fact rival the 1948 Congressional quagmire that Harry Truman had to deal with, prompting Truman to use the now infamous term 'Do Nothing Congress' to describe his tormentors!
Stay tuned for the post Labor Day fireworks in September as all the parties return to Our Nation's Capital fired up for a raucous political season once again!
Jon-Christopher Bua's blogposts for Sky News appear here