The GOP Debate Was Not Presidential

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is the anti-Carson: He was the rhetorically nimblest of the bunch Wednesday night, an alchemist at turning criticism into advantage, and not only in deflecting Jeb Bush's attack on his Senate truancy.

He turned a question about his finances into an opportunity to retell his compelling family narrative, and then, into even sweeter lemonade: "I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more."

Nicely played. But there are legitimate issues involving Rubio's personal and campaign finances. At some point, "my father was a bartender" isn't going to be a sufficient answer, especially if the debate helps turn this into Rubio's moment, and Rubio's nomination.

Rubio will also have to deal with the matter of his youthful looks and his biographical similarity to a certain other first-term senator (and, yes, I criticized Barack Obama's inexperience back when).

As Democratic pollster Peter Hart wrote after an Oct. 20 focus group with GOP voters in Indianapolis, "Those who know Rubio still see him as a little brother, buddy, or sidekick. He is still Linus to Charlie Brown and Robin to a stronger leader's Batman."

Which brings us, sigh, to Jeb Bush, whose trademark exclamation point is looking rather droopy these days. Indeed, Bush seemed most animated Wednesday night when talking about his fantasy football team. Then he was, pardon the phrase, trumped even on that topic by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's outburst on the inanity of the question.

I continue to think that Bush would make the best president of the GOP bunch. But the divergence between campaigning skills and governing skills -- what it takes to win and what it takes to run the country -- has never felt wider than in this strange, worrisome GOP race.

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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.