Interesting point DC.


I have always wondered about that scene because Hagen who was supposedly "out" seemed to know exactly what wasy happening. This leads me to believe that after the Don died Michael told Tom about his plans. Obviously there is some dramatic effect with them talking about it at the funeral, but by asking "do you know how they're gonna come at you?" he is aware that someone inside will betray Michael and assassinate him, just as Don Vito had predicted.
Michael tells Tom that he's going to wait, until after the Baptism before he "meets" the heads of the five families. Maybe this is a hesitation on Michael's part which he doesnt wish to reveal to Tom.

In the bigger picture, I think what was lacking in Michael as a Don was Vito's ability to seperate his emotions from business. Michael was certainly more cool headed than Sonny, but he did have flashes of temper and poor judgment. Sometimes he overreached, and he never fully trusted anyone, and thus, without a real consigliere, he had no one with whom he could bounce ideas around.

We get a glimmer of this flaw in GFIII during the famous speech he makes beside Don Tomassino's casket. Michael cannot understand how Tomassino, who himself was a mafia don was so beloved while he was so feared even though he was no less honorable than Tomassino. He asks "what betrayed me? was it my mind? my heart?" Perhaps this is a character flaw, but perhaps it is because he was never fully trained by his father.

DT