Crowley Political Report

For months, Marco Rubio has been sticking Jeb Bush with the suggestion that Bush is just an aging Baby Boomer who needs to get out of Rubio's political way.

Bush's campaign largely ignored him. Essentially Bush was patting Rubio on the head - "isn't he cute."

Not any more.

During an appearance today on Morning Joe, Bush stopped patting and hit Rubio upside the head during a Q & A with Bloomberg's John Heilemann.

"Are you saying Senator Rubio does not have the leadership skill to fix things?"

". . .I think I have the leadership skills to fix things and that's my strength. Marco was a member of the House of Representatives when I was governor and he followed my lead and I'm proud of that."

"But you do not think he has leadership skills to fix things?"

"It's not. (then with emphasis) No. Barack Obama didn't end up having them"

So not only does Bush say Rubio does not have leadership skills, but that Rubio is just like Obama.

So much for campaigning "joyfully."

The fact is that Bush has always been supportive of Rubio - that is until he decided to run for president. Now, the same Rubio he praised for his skills is apparently lost the skills somewhere on the campaign trail.

Of course, Rubio has been asking for it. His "next generation" campaign has been a thinly veiled attack on Bush who he needs to defeat if he has any chance of winning the Republican nomination.

Here's Bush on MSNBC: 

And in the next video, Bush says just the opposite, praising Rubio in comparing him to Obama: