Norman Lear wanted Mike to be the good guy but sometimes he was just plain annoying and wrong. He talked about civil rights probably to make him feel better but he talked down to people. He treated Gloria like a slave which exposed him as a fake. Mike wanted to looked at as hero the reality was he sometimes did not practiced what he preached. I am not saying that Mike was all wrong but he really did treat the Bunkers including his wife as he was above it all.