People make fun of the theory that President Obama engages in 11-dimensional chess. It’s hard to adequately explain what the term means because it probably means different things to different people. However, it basically means that sometimes the president uses deception. He may pretend to support something that he actually opposes, or to oppose something that he actually supports. I believe the clearest example of this is his position on Plan B contraception. It’s over now. The administration no longer opposes the over-the-counter accessibility of Plan B contraception for any woman, no matter how young. But they went to court to restrict access for young girls, and even appealed when they initially lost.
The unique element of the case was that Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took the unusual step of contravening the Food & Drug Administration’s determination that the drug was safe for young girls to take. The president then backed his Health Secretary’s decision, despite it being quite unpopular with the Democratic base.
The controversy was magnified when the Department of Justice decided to appeal the case. Yet, the DOJ has decided to stand down now. They could have appealed two more times, but they have decided to comply with the District Court’s ruling.
The result is that the policy is correct but the administration has taken a lot of heat from its base. This helped assure that the controversy didn’t galvanize Obama’s opponents in an election year while never actually jeopardizing the right outcome.
This is how 11-dimensional chess works.
