Is Palpatine just lucky that Obi-Wan discovers the clone army and then the Separatist plot, justifying his emergency powers?

Question

It sure seems like Jango didn't want to be tracked since he kills the original assassin sent after Amidala with a dart when she's about to talk, and then he flees as soon as Obi-Wan shows up on Kamino and starts asking him questions, although not without first trying to kill Obi-Wan on the launch pad. Once he realizes Obi-Wan has tracked him to Geonosis he sure seems to try his best to kill him again in the asteroid field (and he says as much to Boba, who I see no reason for him to deceive on this point).

However, the discovery of the clone army and the discovery of the Separatist plot on Geonosis are exactly the two pieces of information that Palpatine needs to get back to Coruscant in order to justify the Galactic Senate granting him emergency powers because:

• He allegedly wants to use the powers to authorize the creation of the Republic Army, and the existence of the clone army on Kamino is what makes that possible
• The immediate threat of the Separatist plot is what he uses to justify the urgent need for the creation of the Republic Army consisting of clones through emergency powers, since "the Senate would never approve the use of clones before the Separatists attack"

Is Palpatine playing 4-D chess here and this was his master plan all along, carefully coordinated with Jango to lure Obi-Wan into exactly the discoveries he needed all while making it seem like he wanted to kill him, or did Palpatine originally have a different plan, and simply jump on this opportunity when it presented itself?

Answer 1

"Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design."

While there are no definite explicit clues for either pro or contra, there is lots of circumstantial evidence pointing out that Palpatine prepared everything that happened. Let us ask ourselves a couple of questions :

What is Palpatine's primary objective?

The answer would be fulfillment of the Sith Grand Plan and destruction of The Jedi Order. The Clone Army was essential in this regard - at the opportune moment, the Clones would execute Order 66 and wipe out the Jedi. Of course, the Clone Army had to first be grown on Kamino, and for that, the location of Kamino was erased from the Jedi Archives. But now as both the Clone Army was created as well as their opponents, the Droid Army, it was time for the Jedi to "discover" them. There was also a possibility that the Kaminoans offer unsolicited help to the Republic, but that would raise much more suspicion. Instead, it was arranged that supposedly-clumsy Jango Fett (in fact the best bounty hunter at that time) outsource his job to an underling, and then kill that underling with nothing else but a dart made exclusively on Kamino. And speaking of botched assassination attempt:

What is Palpatine's secondary objective?

Well of course to turn Anakin Skywalker, Chosen One of the Force, to the Dark Side and make him his Sith apprentice. In order to do that Palpatine plays with his emotions and his attachments. Palpatine clearly senses Anakin's attraction to Padme. In fact, right after the first failed assassination attempt, it was he that orders Kenobi and Anakin to guard her, conveniently setting the two of them together and alone when Kenobi leaves to pursue the Kamino connection.

In fact, throughout the prequels, Padme Amidala is Palpatine's most crucial asset. Not only is she Anakin's biggest weakness, Palpatine skillfully uses her to get rid of the previous Chancellor, Valorum. Later, as young, charismatic and idealistic (but unfortunately not very bright) Senator, she leads a pro-peace faction. Palpatine skillfully allows her some success (initiative for talks with CIS , reduction in military spending etc ...) . But then, through his control of the Separatists, smacks down those efforts with their renewed aggression, leading to his supposedly reluctant acceptance of more power and tighter military measures. Therefore it is obvious he does not want her dead (otherwise Fett would make short work of her) and possibly a martyr. Instead, he skillfully toys with her, and sets her up to be where he wants her to be .

Answer 2

While it is not possible to give a definitive answer Is Palpatine playing 4-D chess here and this was his master plan all along is far more likely.

Let's consider the events that lead Obi Wan to the clone army.

1. A botched assassination attempt on Senator Amidala takes place.
2. The assassin is killed by Jango Fett.
3. Obi Wan finds the dart that killed the assassin.
4. Obi Wan tracks the dart to Kamino.

Note that Jango Fett acted on the orders of Count Dooku, which received his orders from Palpatine. As you can see, steps 1 and 3 could be easily avoided if Palpatine did not want the Jedi order track the clone army.

Speculating the extremely meaningless way to kill Amidala (why not just blast her with a drone as soon as you got in or shoot her with a Kamino dart directly?) was to ensure Amidala would not die, I reach this conjecture:

Palpatine wanted to botch the Amidala assassination, so he wanted the assassination attempt to be carried out with an inefficient way. He also provided Jango (via Count Dooku) with the Kamino dart and ordered him to kill Zam Wesell. Similarly, he could have counted on Jango using Kamino dart, just because Kamino was already removed from Jedi maps and it was an effective weapon.

Regardless, it makes more sense for the story line to believe that Palpatine planned it all along.