Is it just me, or does Obi Wan Kenobi seem to get a free pass on a lot of unacceptable or dubious behaviour? Everything from disrespecting his superiors (he argues with Qui Gon in public in The Phantom Menace and he's quite rude to others), to outright war crimes in The Clone Wars series. All these seem to get either ignored or excused, when they wouldn't be for other characters. Any thoughts on this?

I've sat on this ask for so long trying to exactly articulate my thoughts on this. It's just so complicated. I mean, you're not wrong, but what I've come to conclude is that it often seems to matter which corner of fandom you spend most of your time in. It's not a one-size-fits-all, but I have noticed that pro-Jedi people tend to view Obi-Wan as their beloved. Meanwhile, the more Jedi critical crowd tend to be a lot more critical of Obi-Wan too. It depends on where you are looking.

I figure this makes sense. An important part of Obi-Wan's character is his deference, respect, and reverence for Yoda, the Council, and the Jedi Code. So, if you are pro-Jedi, you are naturally going to be more pro-Obi-Wan, aren't you? I find the horrible things the Jedi do are handwaved away by, "The Senate made them," "they were lied to," or "it was a rock-and-hard-place choice," and so on. The same logic gets applied to Obi-Wan. He is the victim. The Jedi are the victims. Therefore, they must be the good guys 100%, because they are targets by the bad guys. (The irony, of course, is that I think many of these arguments could be applied to Anakin. Literally everyone in the prequels is a victim of Palpatine in some way.) Conversely, people who are more Jedi critical tend to also be a bit more critical of Obi-Wan.

As a result, I cannot say that Obi-Wan does always get a free pass on his dubious behavior. It really depends on which corner of fandom you find yourself in.

I do scratch my head sometimes on why some people seem so rabidly pro-Jedi and almost seem to turn Obi-Wan into a saint. I think it is partially because this is what the narrative encourages, if you do not sit with it and think about the realistic implications. Even more so, if you are not a death of the author sort of person. I’ve noticed, in TCW especially, that they beat you over the head with Vader foreshadowing which is even unwarranted sometimes. But if all you’re listening to is the music, why would you think on that further?

Mind you, GL has made it clear that the Jedi were meant to have become stagnant. He wanted to show how we give away our democracies. He also wanted to show Anakin as a victim. I don't think we were ever supposed to consider them completely virtuous. However, GL also seems to have made it clear that he supports Jedi taking kids from their families and forbidding contact. He seems to support this toxic no attachment stuff. GL has also been dismissive, imho, of the legitimate trauma Anakin and the other Jedi kids went through. I'm of the opinion he needs to crack open a book on basic psychology. (Maybe one on philosophy too.) As a result, people can and do say that the Jedi did teach Anakin everything right and he just didn't listen, and since Obi-Wan is the obvious teacher here...

Then, there is the simple fact that since Anakin becomes Darth Vader some people think that sympathizing with him, (and the pain he experienced under Obi-Wan's tutelage) means you somehow condone what he does. It doesn't. Thus, Obi-Wan becomes the poor victim. Fandom sometimes thinks it is wrong to criticize characters they see as victims, same as they do not like to say a villain is sympathetic.

Since, Anakin and Obi-Wan are narrative foils in many respects, I guess it sort of becomes natural to make Obi-Wan the saint and Anakin the sinner. Obi-Wan and Anakin become pitted against each other narratively, and I guess in fandom it has messily divided that way too.

It's complicated. *shrug*