Quote Originally Posted by Mordar View Post
This is a hill for me. I don't know what field you are in, but to me this is akin to someone coming into the shop and after finishing their first year think they should be running the place. Post-docs don't sit on the Faculty Council, no matter how good their ESI proposal looks. If you do not deserve something, if you have not earned it, not being given that thing is not a snub.
Broadly I agree, and there's the additional and highly salient point that the Jedi Council is obligated to push back against Palpatine attempting to manipulate their inner workings. Allowing the Chancellor to say 'I want Jedi X to be my representative on the Council, and of course you need to make them a Master as a result' is a problem. The Order, by RotS, lacked the strength to oppose part one of that statement, but they could oppose part two and reserve control over their internal promotions.

Where the Jedi Council fails, however, is how they usually fail. You say this is a fork by Palpatine, and that's true, but life isn't a game of chess and schemes can be brought down or mitigated by making them increasingly complex. In this case the solution is obvious: the Council simply needs to explain itself to Anakin. I've mentioned this before in other threads, but the whole problem can be headed off by Obi-Wan taking Anakin aside and saying 'look, the whole thing about you not being a master is just for the politicians, we can't let it look like the Chancellor controls us. We all know you earned the rank, and you'll be the first person elevated as soon as the war's over.' Anakin, for all his many faults, is not an idiot and would understand this. And yes, it requires the Council bending on the requirements for Jedi Mastery a little bit, but over-promoting someone because of personal popularity despite a lack of emotional maturity is a human practice as old as history itself.

Of course the Jedi do none of this and they leave Anakin feeling slighted at the moment they need his support the most. This is part and parcel of the council's actions throughout the PT period. The Sith make some move, or some event just happens, and the Council simply eats the loss. To belabor the chess game metaphor, half the time they just don't make a move at all.