"A Servant's Heart" Revisited, Or, What Happens When the Point Guard Passes Off?

In the words of General MacArthur said, “We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
--Sarah Palin

"You are remembered for the rules you break."
--Gen. Douglas MacArthur

Back in January, OCIHACOSP posted a quickie essay on Sarah Palin's "servant's heart"/"servant leadership" rhetoric, oxymoronic Evangeloid code for someone specially appointed by God to lead others.

...“servant’s heart” is taken from Matthew 23:11-12

11- But the greatest among you shall be your servant.
12- Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

So it’s one of those circular logic things they apply to SP — she’s being exalted and is a leader (e.g. governor, VP nom), therefore she must be a humble person and a servant. I know, it’s ironic as hell but logic has never been the forte of modern Evangelicalism in the US.

They also have this bit called “servant leadership”, which of course is an oxymoron. It works really well for people who are narcissists and users, because those who believe in such things are looking to the SP’s of the world to “lead” them.

In light of today's hurried quit announcement -- in which Sarah characterizes herself as a point guard taking one for the team and handing off to someone else when faced with a full court press -- Sarah's followers will be forced to ask themselves: How do you follow someone who isn't leading anymore?

This kind of upside-down-in-a-circle-speak is characteristic not only of people like Palin/savior-of-america/Resurrection-of-Reaganism, but the same Messiah into whose mold she's been cast as, by her loyalists.

Don't think the Palinoid faction of the Republican party is going to have a hard time reconciling their savior's words with her behavior, as doing so has never been an issue for them.

We should watch, though, how quickly they start to spin Sarah-as-Savior into the current Sarah-as-Martyr meme they've been carefully cultivating since McCain's defeat in November.

Sarah can do no wrong, just like Jesus

Conversely, everything Sarah does is right, just like Jesus

Everything Sarah says is right, just like Jesus

Sarah is now humbling herself in order to be exalted, just like Jesus

Sarah is the perpetual victim of the establishment, just like Jesus

Palinoids ought to take note, however: your Jesus was never a Christian, unlike Sarah.

I wonder if she won't come to deeply regret that last line of her speech comparing herself to General MacArthur, whose own most notorious speech ends with "old soldiers never die, they just fade away".

Only time will tell.