Why exactly was Sisko _that_ obsessed with capturing Eddington?

I can understand that he had personal motivations for capturing Eddington (besides it being his duty), but he seems obsessed with the task to such a degree that I start to wonder exactly what those motivations were.

Was it because Eddington betrayed the Federation ideals ? Or more specifically because he betrayed his Starfleet commission? Was it because he lied and cheated to obtain his goals ? Or was it because he managed to defeat Sisko almost consistently by using more clever tactics -even to the point where Sisko was 'taken off the case' by Starfleet -, making it an ego issue for Sisko ?

I understand of course that it would be a mixture of all of the above, including perhaps some reasons I overlooked. But what would have been his primary personal motivation?

 

Sisko does have a tendency to hold a bit of a grudge. Witness his multi-decade rivalry with Capt Solok.

 

I used to think it was because Eddington undermined the notion of the Federation being a utopia. That he exposed the fact that the free, progressive, liberal, open society of diversity, affluence and equality was in fact a sham but i've definitely changed my mind on this. In hindsight, i think Sisko was one of the few high ranking Starfleet people who recognised the limits of the apparent utopia and understood that it could be oppressive to some.

I think it was combination of all factors but the more Eddington defeated him, the more Sisko wanted revenge.

 

The fact that he worked right under Sisko's nose for months/years without Sisko ever catching on. He made Sisko look foolish.

 

To be fair, it seemed like Solok was the instigator.

As far as Eddington goes, I think BillJ "hit the nail on the head." Sisko never saw Eddington for what he was until he defected--a move that put both his crew and his station at risk and indirectly resulted in his girlfriend being sent to prison. Had the same thing happened to me, I'd have taken it personally, too.

Additionally, it's not as though others didn't understand his feelings. George Sanders wasn't too happy about Eddington damaging his ship, and Odo went out of his way to remind Sisko that Starfleet stationed Eddingon on DS9 because they didn't trust the former.

--Sran

 

^Yes, but look at what his attitude was through most of TMOTTH...he was showing the same sort of obsessive behavior he showed towards Eddington, if not worse because he was ripping into people right and left.

 

Interesting point. Didn't think of that one.

I would have liked to see how Kirk, Picard or Janeway would have dealt with such an opponent -- one that first managed to 'pull the wool over their eyes quite expertly' (to paraphrase Tuvok), and even after being (or having) unmasked managed to remain at least one step ahead for a long time ...

Yeah, but at least Eddington had a 'great cause' he fought for. Solok was simply an incredible jerk and had no such "excuse".

 

^Both Picard (the Borg) and Janeway (Captain Ransom) showed signs of obsessive behavior, albeit for different reasons.

--Sran

 

Oh I agree. I was just pointing out that both were examples of Sisko being a bit obsessive.

 

As did Kirk in "The Conscience of the King" and "Obsession".

 

I think this is more or less it. Perhaps had Eddington simply just defected never to be heard from again, then perhaps Sisko wouldn't have been bsessed. But didn't Eddington also steal some Industrial replicators when he defected or am I mixing my episodes up?

 

Yes, he did steal the replicators.

--Sran

 

But if it had been some other Starfleet officer who defected and took half a dozen industrial replicators, Sisko wouldn't have been so obsessed. Eddington was his direct report, he entertained him, watched baseball with him, and put him in for promotion. He didn't see that Eddington was about to betray Starfleet, and that's what really bothered him. Sisko said all this in the punching bag scene.

 

It wasn't about the fact that Eddington betrayed Federation ideals. It was totally about the fact that Eddington beat him. Eddington bested him personally and betrayed the Federation from his station, from his post.

 

He also got Sisko's girlfriend put in jail for a year or two. That's another level of frustration added to the rest.

But the obsession seems to be mutual, and Sisko starts to "play his role" in Eddingtons delusion of grandure.

 

He was Sisko's officer, and he took advantage of Sisko's trust to betray the captain's highest ideals. It was personal, as human life always is.

 

And the reason why Sisko wasn't quite as pissed at his friend Cal Hudson for doing basically the same thing, was because Hudson wasn't serving under Sisko's command and thus wasn't sneaking around behind his back.

 

The problem is that the main reason probably happened off-screen.
We just do not know what and how many anti-Maquis action Eddington compromised. Or what effect they had.

 

The reason why he wasn't as mad was because Sisko had hair on his head and not on his face. It wasn't his "thing."

 

I guess it was purely personal, Sisko failed to see Eddington for what he was and calculate his motivations. He had been harboring a traitor close by his side, he used to think of Edington as someone who looked up to him.

What is more Eddington made him look helpless, his “catch me if you can” provocations infuriated Sisko, his former underling who was a simple security officer was challenging him tactically. It seems to me that deep inside Sisko realized that Eddington might be right in his criticism and by chasing him Sisko was proving to himself that he was not like him, the utopia still worked despite the flaws.