Sooner or later, most presidential administrations make some version of the Sun King’s mistake. “L’état, c’est moi,” Louis XIV of France is said to have declared — “I am the state.” To criticize the man becomes downright unpatriotic. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs crept up to that line — even put his toe over it — as he tried to capitalize on the anti–Barack Obama declarations of talk-show behemoth Rush Limbaugh.
