The Senate often goes into recess. This year it’s going a step further. It’s going into hibernation.

Not turn out the lights, lock the doors, and leave town hibernation. But rather than go about its normal business—such as taking up more than two dozen bills approved by the House and awaiting Senate action—the upper chamber will limit itself to voting on a few items deemed helpful to President Obama’s reelection. These measures, mainly bits and pieces of Obama’s “jobs bill,” are not expected to pass. If they did, that would screw up the plan devised by Democrats.

Their strategy is for the Senate, after extending the payroll tax, to reject or ignore everything else and become part of a “do-nothing Congress” that will serve as the chief villain in the president’s campaign. Since the Republican-controlled House has been a graveyard for Obama’s agenda, it already fits the bill as a do-nothing institution.