Is Marco Rubio the GOP answer to President Obama?

>>> all right. at 50 past the hour, a live look at union station in washington, d.c., as the sun comes up. we can get one must-read in. i'm going to mick maureen dowd who writes in "the new york times," "the rap on rubio. the ubiquitous 41-year-old who's on the cover of "time" as the republican savior looked as if he needed some saving himself tuesday night as he delivered the party's state of the union response in english and spanish. he seemed parched, shaky and sweaty, rubbing his face and at one point lunging off camera to grab a bottle of water. he needed some of the swagger reflected on the spotify playlist he recently released featuring tupac 's "changes." right now marco is like a paper doll as the party oohs and ahs. as nicolle wallace , the former adviser to sarah palin , gushed

to george stephanopoulos: he's modern. he knows who tupac is.

>> tupac .

>> i don't. who is that, harold?

>> i was going to say, two times. doing it a third time --

>> what is it?

>> few patupac. who is that?

>> mika just doesn't get out too much. heilmann. by the way, why don't we just change the subject?

>> wait, i'm not done.

>> we played postal service coming in, heilmann. are you a postal service fan?

>> what?

>> do you know who postal service is?

>> i don't know that band. who is that?

>> amazing. they're having a reunion. i think we should just talk about music.

>> but wait, nicolle also said who could ask for anything more? that's what she says about marco rubio .

>> about nicolle's comment. ni nicolle wallace 's comment.

>> are we being harsh about this guy peaking or is he just not ready?

>> he'll get beyond it, but what joe articulated at the beginning of the show, the union could be stronger, here is what's happening and here's what we should be doing and he missed the opportunity to lay that out and to be a national leader. he spoke to perhaps the tea party back in his state.

>> i'm going to get in trouble for saying this. i should just keep my mouth shut but i'm going to say it. because you've just got to say the truth. you really do. mar yco rubio is, in effect, the republican party 's answer to barack obama . a guy that's great looking, a guy that's articulate, a guy that could put together a lot of different groups that could help you win the presidency. and a guy who's not ready to be president of the united states . barack obama was not ready to be president of the united states . he still hasn't really figured out how to work washington like clinton figured it out, like lbj figured it out, like reagan figured it out. he wasn't ready. marco's not ready. and they're throwing him out there because they're going, oh, you know, we did poorly with hispanics so let's put marco out there. he's not ready yet. that doesn't mean he won't be ready. he's a great-looking guy. he's articulate. he's just --

>> i see some parallels, but i don't see all of them.

>> from florida. spring training has started. and they'd be looking at a marco rubio and saying he's talented, move him up to aaa and then to majors.

>> in fairness, barack obama had his first national speech, he knocked it out of his park.

>> he nailed it.

>> hold on a second. barack obama was a state senator. marco rubio was speaker of the house of, like, the fourth largest state in america, okay? so if we want to compare state legislative careers, marco had more experience. he's still not ready to be president of the united states . and republicans that are pushing him out there are making a big mistake .

>> you need to let him season. i mean, my god. you know, chris christie , i'm just telling you, he's -- he took everybody who is trying to fill him with kool-aid and say, you know what? simmer down. i've got stuff to do in my state.

>>> still ahead on " morning joe " --

>> i'm going to stay away from that.

>> i'm just going to stop. by the way, postal service reunion. 2013 .