Chess and Other Games of Position

As anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock knows, this year’s Democratic Party primary race has been an epic contest full of twists and turns and last minute buzzer beaters. This past weekend the Democratic Party’s rules committee met behind closed doors to discuss a solution to the debacle caused by Florida and Michigan in their judgment to hold their primaries early.

Katharine Q Seelye of the New York Times describes in her article Gauging Fallout From Rules Committee’s Decisions,” this fiasco has more to it than meets the eye. Epitomizing the praxis of politics, the move to hold their primaries early, according to Seelye, who references Michigan Senator Carl Levin's comments on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” is all about jockeying for position in future primary elections.

Additionally, Seelye describes the artful positioning of the presidential candidates in the negotiation process of deciding how to place the Michigan delegates. The moves are chess-like and seem for all intents and purposes to have Ms. Clinton with in a few moves of check mate.