cnn.com report card

Now is your chance to grade the Obama Administration and Congress on how it’s handled the second 100 days in office. Vote now on CNN.com, and then tune in to CNN TV on August 6, 2009 at 8p ET for the final grades.Congratulations on reaching another pretend milestone in your presidency the 200 day mark! Ta dah! I’m not entirely sure why 200 days holds any particular significance. This is also your first Psoriasis Awareness Month, and we’re not making a big fuss about that. Just like we completely overlooked your first Ground Hog Day.Nonetheless, we media types have decided to take stock of your progress at this particular time, and lacking any better hitching post for that task well, I won’t complain about it any more.

Two hundred days, eh? Seems more like six and a half months to me, but like the old saying goes, Time flies when you’re writing to the leader of the free world. I know a lot has changed for you since you raised your hand and took the oath on that chilly day in January. For starters I imagine when you hear someone say, Here comes the president, you no longer look around the room wondering where he is.

I suppose you have grown at least vaguely accustomed to the Oval Office as your office. And perhaps you’ve accepted the rather startling notion that you can now call pretty much anyone in the world at any hour and he or she will not only take your call, the voice at the other end of the line won’t even complain that you just shot a perfectly good night’s sleep all to hell.On the other hand, life for many, many Americans has not yet changed much. This is kind of the same thing I told you after one hundred days and it’s still true. Unemployment is still a bear.

The market is doing better, but hardly out of the woods. Housing prices may be stabilizing…or maybe not. And on it goes. We are certainly getting some indications that some things may be looking up a bit, but overall the problems we had when you started are still more or less the problems we have now.Your critics will say you are spending so much that you are bound to make everything worse. Your supporters will say you are making such bold moves that you are bound to make everything better. All I say is what I’d say to anyone concerned with the march of time: All you can do is take each day as it comes, do your best, and move on to the next. When I first arrived, I likened Congress to being back in school again as a freshman.

Well, just like school, we have an August recess. but don't let the name fool you it's not even close to a vacation.I am busier than ever with a dozen town halls and "Congress on your corner meetings, meetings with constituent groups, and traveling across the district. It is a very different part of the job compared to the legislative component and frankly, less stress and more fun.Most of all, it is a relief to be back in Colorado with friends and family for a month. Our cousins are visiting from New York City and we all saw a movie last night.

I can't remember the last time I made it home in time for a movie in Washington. For the next month or so, it's like I have a somewhat normal life again.I have also enjoyed being able to help people one on one through constituent service. We have been able to stop a few deportations of individuals who contribute so much to our communities and helped keep several people in their homes who otherwise would have lost them.