Not so long after 9/11 I was in an airport, and a group of 3-4 young, probably college-aged, guys were walking by. One of them saw George Bush on the teevee and loudly and enthusiastically shouted "he's The Man!" His companions looked at him slightly quizzically, and he backpedaled a bit, amending his proclamation by saying, "Well, he'd better be..."
After 9/11 George Bush had a chance to be The Man, and too many people wrongly assumed that because he'd better be The Man, that he would be The Man.
We know how that worked out.