In the boathouse near the end of II, Michael demands Roth's assassination. Tom balks:

TOM:I'd be like trying to kill the president -- there's no way we can get to him.
MICHAEL:
TOM, you know you surprise me -- if anything in this life is certain -- if history has taught us anything -- it's that you can kill anybody. ROCCO
Difficult--not impossible.

This strikes me as a serious mistake by Michael. When Rocco said, "difficult, not impossible," he meant killing Roth, not getting away clean, which would have been near impossible. Roth was surrounded by FBI men, reporters and photographers. Even if he was in Olympic sprint condition and escaped the airport without being shot or captured, the FBI men would have recognized him from his picture in the Corleone family chart shown at the Senate hearing. And even if they didn't, the photographers would have snapped his picture.

Dead or alive, Rocco would have been totally identified with Michael. Michael had just narrowly escaped exposure at the Senate hearing. Though Michael could not be charged with sctually killing Roth, his "legitimacy" would never have survived.

Your thoughts?